Gillard launches royal commission into child abuse
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced the creation of a national royal commission into institutional responses to instances of child sexual abuse.
The decision was taken at a meeting of federal cabinet this afternoon.
Ms Gillard had been under pressure to act following growing calls for a national inquiry into explosive allegations by a senior New South Wales police investigator that the Catholic Church covered up evidence involving paedophile priests.
A number of senior Labor MPs, as well as key independents, had already voiced their support for action on a national scale.
Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-12/abbott-backs-call-for-child-abuse-royal-commission/4367364
Both Government and Opposition have been reluctant to see a Royal Commission, which has wide-ranging powers, into the abuse question, but were forced to respond to overwhelming public demand. The public's outrage has been fuelled by revelations by a senior NSW police officer who accused the Catholic Church in Australia of widespread coverups and destruction of evidence in regard to accusations of child sex offences against Catholic priests in the Hunter Valley region in New South Wales.
The police officer, Det. Chief Inspector Peter Fox, detailed some horrific stories on the ABC's Lateline program last Thursday night in an interview with Tony Jones, and revealed that he had been taken off the investigation when he informed his superiors that a whistleblower had given him an "explosive" statement about paedophilia in the Catholic Church.
It may take as long as the investigation into abuse in Ireland, which took ten years, but it's high time something was done. There has to be question marks not only about the role of bishops in the coverups, but of senior police and politicians as well.
This is truly a victory for the people - and social media.
Link to the Lateline interview here: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3629022.htm
pacalo
(24,721 posts)It's so apparent how much compassion & empathy he has for those abuse victims. I hope he has more success in putting those priests in prison than we've seen done in the U.S. It's good to see someone like him looking out for those kids.
This brings to mind the "Thou Shalt Not Kill" signage I'm seeing a lot of lately in my predominantly-Catholic area. It's very telling that those Catholics aren't as demonstratively diligent about exposing & punishing their paedophile priests & in protecting their children after they're born, isn't it? They're nothing more than followers who can't think for themselves; they're outraged about whatever it is they're programmed to be outraged about. I see no outward signs of their concern for this type of abuse going on like I see in their defense of fetuses (& mothers' lives be damned, to boot).
Matilda
(6,384 posts)He knows his career is now over - already police are conducting a whispering campaign that he's mentally unstable. It won't work - Australians don't hold the police force in high regard anyway.