AUSTRALIA
The Journal (Ireland)
AN AUSTRALIAN INQUIRY into church and institutional child abuse began public hearings earlier today with warnings that widespread and “shocking” allegations would be heard against places of worship, orphanages, community groups and schools.
Justice Peter McClellan opened the hearings in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, announced by the government last November, saying that thousands of people had so far come forward.
“It is now well known that the sexual abuse of children has been widespread in the Australian community, however the full range of institutions in which it has occurred is not generally understood,” McClellan said in an address.
“Many of the stories we are hearing will shock many people.”
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