AUSTRALIA
Catholic Sentinel
Catholic News Service
SYDNEY — Australian bishops have welcomed the report by the Victorian state inquiry into clerical sexual abuse, which recommended sweeping changes in the wake of what one archbishop described as more than 25 years of “inexcusable failures” by the church.
Those who would conceal, fail to report, or knowingly expose a child to abuse, including priests and religious leaders, would face imprisonment under recommendations by the Victorian parliamentary committee.
Under current law, only those who benefit from the concealment of crime can be prosecuted. The state has six months to respond.
The report, Betrayal of Trust, also recommended overturning statutes of limitations in civil suits, improving prevention systems, requiring strict compliance audits and establishing alternative avenues of justice for victims, because it said systems set up by churches were not truly independent.
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