AUSTRALIA
The Age
July 19, 2012
Barney Zwartz
THE state MP who chaired a parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse in the 1990s says the Catholic Church was not ”fair dinkum” then and nor is it now about the state inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious institutions.
Lower house Speaker Ken Smith said yesterday that he had no confidence in Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart or his predecessor, Cardinal George Pell, ”because they knew about these things and were not prepared to do anything”.
At a seminar in the city to help victims prepare submissions to the inquiry, the Liberal member for Bass told The Age: ”I dealt with Gerry Cudmore [then the Melbourne vicar-general] and he was trying to cover his arse. I don’t think he was fair dinkum.”
So was the church fair dinkum today? ”No. I think [Archbishop Hart] is just trying to keep things smooth, and that’s sad.”
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