New Pell probe puts release of sex abuse royal commission redactions on hold
Victorian authorities are weighing up whether to support the release of redacted child sex abuse royal commission commentary about Cardinal George Pell.
Victorian authorities are still weighing up whether to support the release of redacted child sex abuse royal commission commentary about Cardinal George Pell.
The federal Attorney-General, Christian Porter, has written to the Andrews government to determine whether it is now possible to release dozens of pages of the final abuse report, which includes commentary on Cardinal Pell.
Mr Porter wrote to Victorian authorities last week seeking clarification from the government and investigators about whether the commission redactions could now safely be made public.
The letter was sent after a Herald Sun report suggested another complainant had emerged whose story was being examined by Victoria Police.
The Australian understands the Andrews government favours a quick release of the redactions, but police are yet to formally state whether this should happen.
Premier Dan Andrews spoke to Scott Morrison soon after the High Court quashed Cardinal Pell’s five sex convictions and freed him from Barwon Prison, where he finished the last of his 405 days in solitary confinement.
Mr Andrews called for the royal commission commentary to be released. It is understood Mr Porter’s letter was sent to Victorian Attorney-General Jill Hennessy last week, and she will have to give the go-ahead.
The Premier’s strident call for the royal commission commentary to be released underpins where the government’s position is on the matter. The only stumbling block would be if police and prosecutors believed the release of the information could harm any future possible court action.
The Australian is not suggesting Cardinal Pell will be charged and police have refused to say if they are investigating the cardinal. It was reported that a complainant had emerged and spoken to police about events in the 1970s.
A series of people have spoken to police about Cardinal Pell but only one complainant managed to make it through the court system, leading to the 78-year-old cardinal’s jailing.
The five convictions were thrown out by the High Court.
Counsel assisting the child sex abuse royal commission submitted that Cardinal Pell was involved in knowingly helping shuffle serial sex-offender priest Gerald Ridsdale between parishes while Cardinal Pell was serving as a consulter to disgraced Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns. Cardinal Pell denies any knowledge of Ridsdale’s wrongdoing.
The royal commission also heard that while he was an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne, Cardinal Pell failed to act on allegations of violent and sexual misconduct by a dysfunctional and now dead priest called Peter Searson.
Cardinal Pell said Searson’s activities, like Ridsdale’s, had been kept from him, but counsel assisting argued there was no attempt by others in the church to deceive him. Cardinal Pell was an auxiliary bishop before being appointed archbishop of Melbourne in 1996.
The Office of Public Prosecutions declined to comment.
It is understood lawyers for Cardinal Pell are not attempting to stop publication of the royal commission redactions.
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