Liberal MP warns Cardinal George Pell could be seen as a victim

THERE is a risk Cardinal George Pell could be seen as a victim after being questioned by the Royal Commission multiple times, a liberal backbencher says.

Liberal Member for Herbert Ewen Jones is ejected during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

LIBERAL backbencher Ewen Jones said there was a risk Cardinal George Pell could be seen as a “victim”.

“I think we have this thing where Cardinal Pell has been in front of the inquiry, the Royal Commission, a number of times,” he said.

“He has answered every question that’s been put to him. We have now got him in Rome.

“He answers every question as far as I can see.”

The Herbert MP said the public had accepted Paul Bongiorno’s assertion he was unaware of any abuse and he could not understand why they refused to do the same of Mr Pell.

Cardinal George Pell appears at the Royal Comission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse via video link from Rome. Picture: Supplied.

“It’s a little bit unfortunate for mine that this guy seems to be this talisman for negative comment about the Catholic Church,” he said.

“I’m not Catholic but I do go to mass because my wife and my children are Catholic. But I find that most, 99.99 per cent of people, are fantastic people.

“There is a just a very small percentage of priests, a very small percentage of people in the community who do terrible things and what we must do is ensure we are preparing our children for it.”

Cardinal George Pell appears at Royal Commission from Rome

Mr Jones also spoke out about the Government’s review into the Safe Schools Coalition — a program set up to encourage acceptance of children struggling with gender or sexual identity.

He said he was unconcerned by the program, arguing teachers would pick and choose which sections were suitable for their class.

“In my son’s school two kids committed suicide last year,” he said.

“There is a real issue here and what we must do is we must address it. No-one committed suicide when I was a kid because we could go home at 3pm.

“If you could get passed the bully you could get home and it was over. Now bullying can be 24 hours a day and anonymous.”