THE Catholic Church will review its
national sexual abuse complaints policy, with the Archbishop of Sydney,
George Pell, believing it ultimately will be revised during the course
of the royal commission. Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Denis Hart confirmed both Towards Healing and the church's other complaints process, the Melbourne Response, would be on the agenda at next week's Sydney meeting of the church's peak body.
"I am sure the bishops will discuss the two present responses in the light of their inherent value, as well as any criticism, to assess the best way forward for all," Archbishop Hart said.
A spokesperson for Cardinal Pell's archdiocese of Sydney said the sexual abuse complaints policy had been reviewed since it was introduced in 1997.
"We would expect procedures to be revised again as the commission progresses and of course when final recommendations are made," the spokesperson said.
Towards Healing and the Melbourne Response, set up by Cardinal Pell when he was Melbourne archbishop in 1996, have been the subject of trenchant criticism by victims groups and others.
Both were to provide an avenue for sexual abuse victims to complain to the church and receive psychological counselling, pastoral care and compensation, including those who did not want to take their cases to the police and potentially face the trauma of court.
The bishops' conference is preparing to respond to the consultation paper on establishing the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse by close of business on Monday.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell expressed his disappointment at the short timeframe given to reply to the government's commission consultation paper, saying a week was not enough.
And Tony Abbott has accused Julia Gillard of shirking her responsibility by trying to get the states to fund the royal commission.
Cardinal Pell said the Sydney archdiocese "would be raising issues in response to the discussion paper about what we believe needs to be considered by the royal commission in order to fully address the problem of child abuse in Australia".
Changes to Towards Healing were also foreshadowed by the Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge.
"Until now our approach has been to continue fine-tuning Towards Healing, but we may be moving now into a post-Towards Healing phase," Archbishop Coleridge said. "The royal commission could help us to know more of what that might look like."
Archbishop Hart defended the logic and compassion behind its complaints processes.
"The church throughout Australia became very conscious there were people who had suffered abuse, many of whom didn't want to go to the police because the whole thing was so horrendous and they didn't want to face a court case," he said.
Archbishop Coleridge said Towards Healing "drew upon what we had learnt in a relatively short time about the pathology of those who abuse, the effects of abuse on victims and what might be required for healing".
It was an attempt to balance the requirements of the law with the requirements of pastoral care and that the law, though essential, "was never enough to deal with the immense human complexity of abuse and its effects. That remains true."
Professor of law Patrick Parkinson, who reviewed Towards Healing twice but has since withdrawn his support from the national committee in charge of the process, acknowledged that as with sexual assaults, child sex abuse survivors can experience "a real fear about going to the police and making police statements, about going through a court process, the interrogation and cross-examination and this is why we know a large number of sexual assaults go unreported".
He acknowledged one aim of Towards Healing had been to spare victims.
"As I have said on many occasions, (Towards Healing) is a very genuine effort at reaching out to victims and promoting healing," Professor Parkinson said.
Attorney-General Nicola Roxon released a paper on proposed terms of reference for the commission on Monday night. It says while the body's work is "likely to go further than any inquiry" ever has before, the focus will be on institutional failings. The paper also plays down hopes of a compensation scheme.
She said compensation was not the starting point of the commission but did not rule it out.
"Our primary concern is to look at the recommendation that will help fix the system for the future," she said.
Victoria has joined Western Australia in rejecting a joint federal-state commission model and Queensland and South Australia have refused to provide any funding. All states, however, will co-operate with the inquiry.
The Opposition Leader said the commission was the Prime Minister's responsibility.
"I think all of the state premiers have indicated that they support the inquiry. I think the Prime Minister has attempted to get them to fund it," he said. "Well, when things are a national responsibility it is appropriate that the national government pick up the tab."