AUSTRALIA
The Australian
STUART RINTOUL From: The Australian May 18, 2013
BARRISTER Bryan Keon-Cohen has likened the Catholic Church to outlaw motorcycle gangs, drug cartels and people-smugglers over its treatment of child-abuse victims.
Speaking at a legal conference yesterday, Dr Keon-Cohen, president of abuse organisation Commission of Inquiry Now, said the church had put the welfare of priests above concern for child rape victims, treated abuse as a sin rather than a crime, and its protocols for dealing with abuse were insufficient and objectionable.
Dr Keon-Cohen, who came to prominence as a barrister in the Mabo case, said the church hierarchy had put Catholic doctrine before the law.
“(This) places these officials . . . in the same smelly bed as outlaw motorcycle gangs, the mafia, drug cartels and people-smugglers,” Dr Keon-Cohen said.
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