Police inquiry a decoy in Church abuse investigation

The NSW Government's decision to establish a special commission of inquiry into the police force, rather than the Catholic Church in relation to allegations of sexual abuse by priests, has been labelled a decoy.

The announcement of the inquiry by Premier Barry O'Farrell came in response to explosive allegations by a senior detective who claimed the church actively and systematically hampered police investigations into paedophilia in the New South Wales Hunter region.

The allegations have prompted renewed calls for the resignation of Catholic Cardinal George Pell and a nationwide royal commission to investigate decades of sexual abuse of children and alleged cover ups by the Catholic Church.

The New South Wales inquiry will look at how police handled claims of sexual abuse by priests in the Hunter region.

However, Nationals MP Troy Grant says the special commission of inquiry is not enough by itself.

"This inquiry is not the golden panacea to address the broader issues about the church's response to paedophilia, or their lack of response, an inappropriate response, their actions to thwart investigations or to interfere - that is most definitely the domain of a national Royal Commission in my view," he said.

As a police officer in the 1990s, Mr Grant led an investigation in the Newcastle area that uncovered the abuse of 35 people.

He says the leadership of the Catholic church remains unaccountable.

"The behaviour of the church has been consistent, back in the 70s right through to the mid-2000s, which is why I've called for the leader of the Catholic church, Cardinal Pell, to fall on his sword," Mr Grant said.

"He should've and could've done more and done better. I think he's lost the moral right to decide whether the church's response is now appropriate.

"That should be left to a Royal Commission."

'Systematic process'

Mr Grant says a state-based Royal Commission would be half-hearted.

"The country owns this problem," he said. "These offenders have been moved - there's been a systematic process of them being moved from parish to parish, from state to state, from country to country. The states do no have the capacity to properly investigate that. To get to the bottom of this problem, it has to be at a national level."

Federal Independent MP Tony Windsor has joined the call for a Royal Commission and says he intends to raise the issue with Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

He says the fact that a respected police officer raised the issue is evidence enough that a Royal Commission is needed.

"If it's a controlled political inquiry you just get the same old answer and no one does anything," he said. "I think it is time for the Commonwealth and the Prime Minister to actually have a very, very close look at this. I'd be encouraging her for what it's worth to pursue this because I think the community is demanding it."

'Siding with the church'

Melbourne-based lawyer Judy Courtin, who is researching abuse within the Catholic church and its response, agrees a Royal Commission should be non-negotiable.

"The reasons for a Royal Commission have existed for decades," she said. "What's different now is that there is, after many decades of hundreds and hundreds of people trying to do something about these crimes, finally these victims are being heard, they're being listened to. I think there is an extraordinary amount of momentum growing for a Royal Commission, and I don't see that there's any other way out."

Ms Courtin says people who have been abused feel that politicians are siding with the Catholic Church by dismissing calls for a federal Royal Commission.

"They once again feel disbelieved," she said. "They feel as though the Government is siding with the Church, and I have to say, they're right. I don't know what else we need to insist or to call for a Royal Commission. How many more deaths to we need? How many more ruined lives to we need?"

Too 'open-ended'

However, Frank Brennan, a leading human rights lawyer and Professor of Law at the Australian Catholic University, disagrees.

"I think a Royal Commission has become something of a platitude," Professor Brennan said. "I think to have a specific inquiry at this stage in relation to the events at Newcastle is helpful, in that it helps to focus on an area under diocese where there's obviously been considerable trouble, and to try and get clarity about an appropriate way forward. That might then give lessons for other places into the future. My concern still about a Royal Commission as such, especially at a national level, would be that it would be such an open-ended process that whether or not you'd get the same learnings, I just don't know."

Federal Employment Minister Bill Shorten is also not convinced a Royal Commission is the right response.