AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Paul Kennedy
Every major Australian church has been cautioned to better protect children or risk illegitimacy.
In a speech to the National Council of Churches, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse chairman Justice Peter McClellan urged religious leaders to act on his recommendations.
“What we can be certain of is that any institution which does not acknowledge past wrongs and the need for change will lose the confidence of Australians,” he said via a recorded video.
“The community will not accept the legitimacy of any institution which does not give priority to the safety and wellbeing of the children for which it has responsibility.”
Justice McClellan detailed the exhaustive work of Australia’s largest royal commission, which has examined 1.2 million documents and heard evidence from more than 1,200 witnesses over 440 sitting days.
They have wide-ranging powers to cross-examine, obtain evidence, and protect witnesses
Fifty-nine per cent of abuse reported to the royal commission has come from within religious institutions.
Justice McClellan revealed the commission had referred 2,025 cases to police and other authorities but only 127 have been acted upon.
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