Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Ten years ago young Catholic people from all parts of the globe descended on Sydney for World Youth Day. Held every two years, World Youth Day is the Catholic Church's global festival of faith, prayer and liturgy and a celebration of youth and young adults. In 2008 it was the largest single event on the planet after the Beijing Olympics. Pope Benedict came to Sydney for World Youth Day and Cardinal George Pell basked in the glow of the event. The city itself seemed to be filled with joy and peace. At the time, I was a minister in the New South Wales government and the government spokesperson for World Youth Day. In 2008 the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse had not yet taken place, the Irish government had not yet published the Ryan report into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in that country, the movie Spotlight had not yet been made, and most people assumed that the isolated reports of clerical sexual abuse of children were just that—isolated.

I recall a meeting with Cardinal George Pell in the weeks leading up to World Youth Day. My job as a government minister was to oversee the logistics supporting the event—the transport, the health services and the public safety—and to provide media interviews and briefings and public information about the impact of the event on residents and businesses in Sydney. I recall suggesting to the cardinal that we consider that someone may come forward during the event to raise a historic or current complaint of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy and it would be prudent to plan for a response. I will never forget the cardinal's answer. He gave me a hard look and said, 'No-one would dare disrupt such a joyous occasion with such an allegation.' Then he would have no further discussion with us on the matter. I've often reflected on that conversation. I tell that story today in the context of the national apology delivered by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the other house and here today by Senator Cormann, supported by Senator Wong.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was ordered by the former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2012. I pay tribute to Prime Minister Gillard for her determination and courage to help our nation face this dark truth of our story. Ms Gillard attended the apology in the parliament, and sitting next to her, at times holding her hand, was Christine Foster. Chrissie and her husband, Anthony Foster, are the parents of Emma and Katie Foster. Both girls were raped and abused by Father Kevin O'Donnell in Victoria. Father O'Donnell had been raping children for decades.

During World Youth Day, Anthony Foster spoke up, and he spoke out. Anthony and Chrissie had been advocating within the church for a decade, trying to get justice for their daughters and for others who had been victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy. They had been met with silence, with gross inadequacy, and with an unwillingness to acknowledge or appropriately respond to the horror their daughters and other children had experienced at the hands of Catholic clergy. The response of the Catholic leadership in Australia to Anthony Foster's public comments during World Youth Day was dismal. Archbishop Anthony Fisher said that the community should 'stop dwelling crankily on old wounds'. Cardinal Pell said that the church had paid for counselling for the Foster girls and that he really had nothing much to do with the Foster case.

There are many people who bravely fought and advocated for a royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, but chief among these were Anthony and Chrissie Foster. Their advocacy led to the promise of a commission of inquiry in Victoria in 2012 and then the announcement of a national royal commission later that year by Prime Minister Gillard. The Fosters demonstrate bravery, unflinching determination, ongoing love for their children and all other victims, and an unwavering insistence on justice. Their daughter Emma took her own life in 2008 at age 26 after a traumatic life which included self-harming and drug addiction. Anthony died in 2017, and it was a loss to our nation. It was most fitting that Chrissie, with her daughter Katie, attended the national apology.

I applaud the Fosters' decision to use World Youth Day in 2008 as an opportunity to speak up. The world's media and the nation's attention was on young people and the Catholic Church, and the Fosters knew that there would likely never be a better time in Australia to bring to the fore the dark and diabolical truth the Catholic Church was trying to keep hidden. I can't imagine the pain that World Youth Day in 2008 must have caused the thousands of Australians who suffered horrific abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy. As a former state legislator and a minister responsible for the event, I am sorry.

For the past decade, as a legislator and as a Catholic, I have wrestled with the grotesque juxtaposition that the Catholic Church poses. At its best, the Catholic Church fires up its young believers by preaching the gospel messages and inspiring social action on poverty, inequality, injustice, homelessness, the environment and welcoming refugees. Sydney witnessed this firsthand when World Youth Day came to an often cynical town in 2008. From the moment the first pilgrims landed at Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport, they charmed the city with their faith, their generosity and their joy. At its worst, though, the Catholic Church has been diabolical to young people. Across the world, the church has presided over the grotesque phenomenon of clerical sexual abuse of children and compounded these sins with weak, pathetic decisions by priests and bishops to hide these crimes.

Through the work of the royal commission, Australia has witnessed the horror perpetrated by the Catholic Church. Five thousand submissions relating to the Catholic Church were made to the commission. The victims' stories are harrowing, and their testimony is raw. In New South Wales, allegations of the systematic cover-up of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese came to light in 2012 as a result of public comments by detective Peter Fox. The royal commission specifically examined Catholic Church authorities in the Maitland-Newcastle region in relation to allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy and religious. At this stage, the report into the Maitland-Newcastle diocese has not been made public, as the inquiry's terms of reference require that its work does not prejudice current or future criminal or civil proceedings.

I stand here today, joining the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Cormann, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Wong, endorsing the words of the national apology to victims and survivors of institutional sexual abuse. I do so not just as a senator for New South Wales but also as Premier of New South Wales from December 2009 to March 2011. I acknowledge that on 22 October this year the New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, delivered an apology to survivors of institutional sexual abuse on behalf of the New South Wales government. In doing so, she said:

On behalf of the Government and people of NSW, to every survivor, I apologise deeply and unreservedly—for the pain they have suffered, and for the failure of governments and institutions to protect them when they needed it most.

I join with Premier Berejiklian in expressing that apology.

The stark reality the royal commission lays bare is that our nation failed thousands of young people entrusted to institutions that were supposed to care for them but, instead, abused them. Residential institutions, out-of-home placements, schools, churches, sporting groups, cultural and other community organisations, and youth detention centres perpetrated violence and sexual abuse on those in their care. These organisations failed to acknowledge, punish or protect future victims. They failed to care for the survivor.

This failure is doubly compounded by state and national public authorities, for they both failed in their duty to protect children and young people directly in their care and, in some instances, in their responsibilities to properly investigate and prosecute. For too long, victims and survivors of institutional sexual abuse have suffered in silence. They have now broken that silence with courage and with honesty and by speaking out through the royal commission. The commissioners listened. They understood. They helped us all understand. The commission has made serious and extensive recommendations, and these are being accepted by the government with the support of the opposition. It is incumbent upon all of us, legislators and the wider community, to ensure we act now and in the future to implement these recommendations.

The silence of conspiracy and cover-up, of inaction and denial on the part of institutions, is now broken. Australia cannot be silent anymore. We will not deny the suffering of survivors and we cannot say we did not know how to keep children safe in institutional settings, in the future. Anthony and Chrissie Foster broke the silence, during World Youth Day, in 2008. They brought before us their daughters' truth. Now the parliament has spoken and expressed its sorrow for Emma, for Katie and for all the thousands of children our nation's institutions have failed. I also acknowledge that the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, apologised. On 4 October this year, in the presence of Pope Francis, at the Synod for Bishops in the Vatican, Fisher apologised:

For the shameful deeds of some priests, religious and lay people, perpetrated upon you or other young people just like you, and the terrible damage that has done; for the failure of too many bishops and others to respond appropriately when abuse was identified, and to do all in their power to keep you safe; and for the damage thus done to the Church’s credibility and to your trust …

I welcome these words. However, the reality is that the leadership of the Catholic Church in Australia and in the Vatican have yet to take sufficient steps to address the culture of clericalism and the flawed ecclesiology that encouraged the extensive and systematic abuse of children in the church's care.

The words we say today in the Australian Senate cannot repair this damage or compensate for this failing of our nation's public and private institutions. But they can begin our determination to do what we as a nation can to give comfort, support, assistance and, importantly, justice to survivors. These words must compel us to act. We must ensure that children and young people in institutions, or anywhere else in our care, are safe from violence and abuse now and in the future.