Victims of sexual abuse by George Pell receive compensation under redress scheme

The Catholic Diocese of Ballarat had disputed the men’s accounts of historical abuse, but under the scheme is liable to pay the redress amount.
Arnold Thomas and Becker principal lawyer Jodie Harris told this masthead she was aware of further incidents of historical abuse involving Pell.
“We believe there are other victims who have not found the courage to come forward in relation to Pell. Anecdotally, we have heard stories from clients, some who are potential witnesses, but have not yet come forward.
“But we know from previous cases that the church will fight these claims, which could put some people off,” Harris said.
She said seeking compensation under the National Redress Scheme often resulted in poor financial outcomes for victims of abuse.
The government scheme has a lower burden of proof than the criminal justice or civil court systems, and awards compensation on the basis that abuse occurring at an institution such as the Catholic Church was “reasonably likely”.
The scheme was founded by the federal government in 2018 in response to recommendations by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and was supported by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference declined to comment on Friday on compensation payments made to victims of Pell’s historical offending.
In 2017, the report by the royal commission found that a “catastrophic institutional failure” by the Ballarat Catholic Church to take action on cases of sexual abuse had led to more children being abused by its clergy.
The dismissive response within the diocese of Ballarat to abuse complaints spanning at least three decades was driven by a desire to avoid scandal and protect the church’s reputation, the report found.
Retired priest Father Kevin Dillon told this masthead there had been no meaningful change in the Catholic Church’s response to clerical abuse over the past 30 years.
“This will continue to rear its ugly head as long as the institutional church does not acknowledge the incredible damage that has been done on its watch, and in many cases, with its knowledge.
“Royal commissions and parliamentary inquiries have done what they can, but the missing link is the failure of all churches to face up to their individual and institutional responsibilities to victims and their families,” Dillon said.
Pell, who was the Vatican’s former financial controller and the most senior Catholic cleric to have ever been found guilty of child sexual abuse, had his convictions quashed by the High Court in 2020, following a two-year legal battle.
In December 2018, he was found guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria of sexually assaulting two altar boys in the sacristy of St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996. That decision was upheld in the Court of Appeals, before it was overturned in the High Court.
Pell, who had maintained his innocence since being charged in 2017, said in a statement after the acquittal that he “holds no ill will towards my accuser”.
“However my trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church, nor a referendum on how church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of paedophilia in the church. The point was whether I had committed these awful crimes, and I did not,” Pell stated.
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