LONDON (ENGLAND)
Daily Mail
July 11, 2018
By Charlie Moore
– The Victorian Government is considering fining priests who don’t report abuse
– Lisa Wilkinson, aged 58, argued the changes would provide justice for victims
– Waleed Aly, 39, suggested law would be unenforceable and therefore pointless
– Priests say the law is overreaching of the state and violates religious freedom
Sydney – Lisa Wilkinson last night claimed that altar boys were ‘prey’ for paedophile Catholic priests.
Supporting a proposal to fine priests who fail to report abuse, she said: ‘If altar boys in particular are seen as prey for priests then we have to step in, and in a major way.’
‘The church has been a rule unto itself, and we’ve had generation after generation of damaged humans,’ she continued.
Mrs Wilkinson made the comments in a heated discussion with co-presenter Waleed Aly on Channel Ten’s The Project.
The Victorian Government is considering fining priests $10,000 if they fail to break the seal of confession to report penitents’ admissions of child abuse.
Mrs Wilkinson, 58, argued the changes were necessary to provide justice for victims.
Mr Aly, 39, suggested the law would be unenforceable and therefore pointless.
South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and Western Australia have announced plans to introduce the law but the Victorian Government said on Wednesday it needed ‘further consideration’.
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