AUSTRALIA
PerthNow
Peter Law & Kate Campbell, PerthNow
February 12, 2017
THE extent of alleged child sex abuse in the Anglican church in WA will finally be laid bare this week.
A report detailing all child sex abuse complaints received by dioceses across Australia between 1980 and 2015 is expected to be made public by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Perth diocesan secretary Brian Dixon said its response to the Anglican Data Project was provided to the royal commission “on a confidential basis”.
But Anglican Church of Australia general secretary Anne Hywood said the findings were likely to be published on Friday, the first day of the public hearing into Anglican authorities.
The Sunday Times has revealed numerous allegations of sex abuse suffered by boys at an Anglican Church run orphanage in Middle Swan in the 1940s and 1950s, and reported how paedophilia was expected to cost the diocese $1 million in legal fees and settlements over three years.
But the church’s Perth diocese has refused to say how many complaints it had received, how many allegations were reported to police or how many victims had received compensation.
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