Royal Commission announced in Australia

Following further harrowing testimony at the Victorian state parliamentary inquiry, Prime Minister Julia Gillard today announced a national royal commission into child abuse.

Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Abuse

Here in Australia the Victorian state parliament is currently conducting an inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

Hearings have just begun but the focus so far is overwhelmingly on the Roman Catholic church.

Some of the reported testimony includes:

• Victoria Police identified 2110 offences committed against 519 victims since January 1956, more than 70% of whom were abused within the Catholic church system (to put this in context Catholics represent approximately 25% of Australians) - during this entire period not a single case has been referred by the church to police
• Professor Patrick Parkinson, a child protection expert and Sydney University law professor, testified that there is six times as much abuse in the Catholic Church as in all other churches combined
• Analysis of Catholic clergy ordained in Victoria and Tasmania from 1940 to 1972 by Professor Des Cahill found that nearly 5% have either been convicted of child sexual abuse or died with the church subsequently admitting they were abusers

Links to articles and testimony cited:

-  Melbourne Age 19 October 2012

-  Melbourne Age 22 October 2012

-  Transcripts from the inquiry