VICTIMS of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Victoria and others will form a coalition today to campaign for a royal commission on the abuse and the church's response.
To be convened by eminent QC Bryan Keon-Cohen, the Coalition for Survivors of Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse Victoria will also seek law reform and better victim support.
Mr Keon-Cohen said last night the church's process, the Melbourne Response, was beyond objective scrutiny and accountability.
''The government should institute a royal commission to do what the church won't do, and that is objectively and fairly examine the defects of the process,'' he said.
Mr Keon-Cohen said he had the highest professional regard for the church's independent commissioner, Peter O'Callaghan, QC, but the Melbourne Response was an internal church procedure.
Mr O'Callaghan wrote an opinion article in The Age on December 20 challenging critics to provide proof that an inquiry was needed, but Mr Keon-Cohen said yesterday that repeated complaints from victims and the complexity of the process meant it needed a fair and objective examination.
Victims and representatives will meet at Parliament House this evening, including advocates In Good Faith, Broken Rights and Vanish, lawyers and welfare agencies working with victims.
In Good Faith director Helen Last said it was time to step up the campaign because the Cummins Report on vulnerable children had been given to the government, though not yet released.
After repeated calls to the Attorney-General for an inquiry into the Melbourne Response, Justice Philip Cummins' report on Protecting Vulnerable Children in Victoria was widened in October.
He was asked to consider extending mandatory reporting of child abuse to include clergy and church workers and whether there were ''doctrines or practices'' in Victorian churches that discouraged people reporting child abuse.