UPDATE: On January 10th 2023, Cardinal George Pell died at Salvator Mundi International Hospital in Rome, Italy. He passed at the age of 81 from complications following hip replacement surgery.
Victorian police are investigating Cardinal George Pell following explosive testimony given to the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse.
Pell is accused of multiple counts of child sexual abuse that allegedly occurred across two decades, including inappropriately touching two boys at a Ballarat pool, exposing himself to three boys at Torquay Life Saving Club, and abusing two teenage choirboys in Melbourne.
Pell strenuously denies the allegations.
PM calls for Royal Commission into juvenile detention abuse
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called for a Royal Commission into juvenile detention in the Northern Territory after ABC’s Four Corners exposed the shocking abuse of children at Don Dale Detention Centre.
The program broadcast shocking vision of six boys being tear-gassed, and others were strapped to a mechanical chair and hooded.
Calls for the Royal Commission have received bipartisan support and have been widely welcomed by human rights groups.
However, a report by the The Australian claims that the guards who perpetrated the abuse are likely to escape prosecution due to a legal loophole following changes made to Northern Territory law that effectively give prison guards immunity.
Church paedophile ring exposed in Newcastle
A paedophile ring operating inside Newcastle’s Anglican Church has been exposed by the diocesan business manager John Cleary and director of professional standards Michael Elliott.
Elliott told the ABC’s 7.30 Report that he believed complaints about Father Peter Rushton were ignored. It is alleged that Rushton abused boys and arranged for boys to be abused by others.
Both Cleary and Elliott have received death threats since speaking out against the paedophile ring and have been forced to move house on several occasions.
The 7.30 Report also obtained a confidential diary note made by Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Roger Herft, which revealed he knew about Rushton’s abuse claims but failed to act.
Abuse survivors Peter Gogarty and Paul Gray told the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse that Fletcher had organised camping trips in the Hunter Valley where boys were systematically raped.
