Federal Government still needs clearance from states to charge priests and clergy for not reporting on confessionals
MALCOLM Turnbull will deliver a national apology to the victims of institutional child sexual abuse, the federal government agreeing to move on almost all recommendations made by the royal commission into the issue.
NSW
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MALCOLM Turnbull will deliver a national apology to the victims of institutional child sexual abuse, with the federal government agreeing to move on almost all recommendations made by the long-running royal commission into the issue.
Both the Prime Minister and Attorney-General Christian Porter backed the contentious repeal of the right to silence for confessions heard by priests.
But the government still needs agreement from the states to make it a crime for priests and other clergy not to report child sexual abuse heard in confessionals.
Mr Turnbull will apologise in Parliament on October 22.
He said state governments would need to agree to change current laws allowing clergy to decline to give evidence in court if it had been heard in a confessional — but “the safety of children should always be put first”.
“Now we know, thanks to the royal commission’s work, that in far, far too many cases, it wasn’t,” he said.
Mr Porter said the process to change the laws was under way, and attorneys-general around the country had last week “agreed … in effect to accept the recommendations of the royal commission”.
However, forcing priests to report to police confessions about child abuse, or being forced to give evidence in court, has long been controversial.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, said there was “no compelling evidence to suggest that legal abolition of the seal of confession will help (keep children safe)”.
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“Protecting children and upholding the integrity of Catholic sacraments are not mutually exclusive, and the Church wants to continue to work with government to ensure both can be achieved and maintained,” he said.
NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said no agreement had been reached with other states “with respect to the religious confession”.
But Mr Porter yesterday said there was not one instance in which the clergy’s right to silence before a court had been activated.
South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory have already made it illegal to fail to report criminal allegations and offences detailed in confessionals to authorities.
Other federal government responses to the royal commission’s recommendations will include a National Office for Child Safety, and study to track if, and where, high levels of sexual abuse against children might be continuing.