Australian Times weekly newspaper | 28 May 2013

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28 May - 3 June 2013 Issue: 465

CLARE STEWART For the love of film

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LABOUR OF LOVE

An Indian feast at Cinnamon Club

CIRCA COMES TO TOWN Circus, with a twist

food & wine P6

entertainment P8

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Scandal fear led to sex abuse cover-up n Cardinal Pell apologises to inquiry for Catholic cover-up of child sex abuse.

By Genevieve Gannon with AAP AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has admitted the fear of scandal led to cover-up in the church. He said former Melbourne archbishop Sir Frank Little was involved in a coverup and a former Ballarat archbishop destroyed documents. He denied he personally covered up offending. “No. Never,” he told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse on Monday. He agreed under questioning that the fear of scandal led to a cover-up. “The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church. “There was a fear of scandal.” Cardinal Pell, who is the Archbishop of Sydney and a former archbishop of Melbourne, has apologised for the abuse committed by clergy. “I’m fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” he told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse. “That is the basis for everything which I’ll say now.” Cardinal Pell said the church had dealt with child sex abuse “imperfectly” and had not understood the damage being done to victims. “I would agree that we’ve been slow to address the anguish of the victims and dealt with it very imperfectly,” he told the inquiry. “I think a big factor in this was not simply to defend the name of the church. “Many in the church did not understand just what damage was being

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done to the victims. We understand that better now.” Cardinal Pell said the sodomy of children was always regarded as totally reprehensible. “If we’d been gossips, which we weren’t ... we would have realised earlier just how widespread this business was,” Cardinal Pell said. He admitted lives had been ruined as a result of the cover-ups. He agreed the systemic cover-up had allowed paedophile priests to prey on children. “I would have to say there is significant truth in that,” Cardinal Pell said. He did not believe there had been a culture of abuse. “I think the bigger fault was that nobody would talk about it, nobody would mention it. “I was certainly unaware of it. “I don’t think many, if any, persons in the leadership of the Catholic Church knew what a horrendous widespread mess we were sitting on.” Cardinal Pell agreed that placing paedophiles above the law and moving them to other parishes resulted in more heinous crimes being committed. “There’s no doubt about it that lives have been blighted. “There’s no about it that these crimes have contributed to too many suicides.” Cardinal Pell said the church is ready to pay victims whatever the law commands. Australian compensation - a maximum of $75,000 - was low compared to

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Car summit called as Ford gives up PRIME MINISTER Julia Gillard has agreed to a summit on the future of car making, as she resists pressure from unions and Labor MPs to raise tariffs after Ford’s decision to stop manufacturing in Australia. Ford says about 1200 workers will lose their jobs at its two plants in Victoria by October 2016. The company’s profits have been squeezed by the high Australian dollar, making exports more expensive and imports cheaper. Ms Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan on Friday held talks with union and industry leaders in Sydney - as part of the regular national panel for economic reform meeting - at which they discussed Ford’s decision. The prime minister told the meeting she had agreed to the ACTU’s request for a “strategic discussion on the future of Australia’s automotive industry”. The summit is expected to involve members of the prime minister’s task force on manufacturing as well as other stakeholders. The panel meeting also heard calls for better policies to encourage Australian businesses to be more internationally competitive. Australia imposes a five per cent tariff on imported cars, but a number of Labor backbenchers and unions

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