Abuse commission '10 years too late', says Phillip Aspinall

ANGLICAN Primate Phillip Aspinall says the royal commission into child sex abuse should have been called a decade ago.

ANGLICAN Primate Phillip Aspinall says the planned national royal commission into child sex abuse should have been called a decade ago, when he first approached then prime minister John Howard to set up such an inquiry.

In a statement today strongly backing the inquiry announced this week by Julia Gillard, the spiritual leader of the country's 3.6 million Anglicans said it offered a historic opportunity to protect children and called for bipartisan support from MPs to make it well-resourced, independent and free from political agendas.

Dr Aspinall, the Archbishop of Brisbane, also reminded the Prime Minister that "all victims of child sex abuse" would be looking to the royal commission for answers and validation, including the vast majority who were harmed in family settings.

"Of the nearly 3.6 million Australians who call themselves Anglican, statistically, one in four women and one in eight men are victims of abuse, so it is something that affects our church on many levels," he said.

Dr Aspinall said he would write to Ms Gillard to formalise his support for the royal commission and to convey suggestions for the terms of reference.

In Brisbane, Dr Aspinall is credited with cleaning house in the Anglican diocese after the exposure of its failure to properly address child abuse allegations in a number of Queensland Anglican schools and against church workers.

The outcry led to the resignation of former Archbishop of Brisbane Peter Hollingworth from his post as governor-general in 2003.