SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
The Sydney Morning Herald
February 22, 2018
By Joanne McCarthy
Australian victims of notorious St John of God Brother Bernard McGrath have urged New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to include churches in a child abuse royal commission after McGrath’s fight against extradition from New Zealand stopped the Australian royal commission from a public inquiry into the Catholic order.
Victims, their families and advocates in Australia and New Zealand are mobilising after the New Zealand government established the child abuse royal commission on February 1, but controversially failed to include sport- and faith-based institutions, and restricted investigations to sexual and physical abuse allegations between 1950 and 1999 where the state was involved.
Ms Ardern and Children’s Minister Tracey Martin said the royal commission could investigate abuse cases involving children under state care in church facilities but the inquiry was “about the people, not the institutions”.
The restriction could rule out up to 50 per cent of complainants, critics say.
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