AAP
Federal politicians are at odds over how long the royal commission into child sex abuse should take, with a senior Labor MP suggesting it may run for a decade.
Chief government whip Joel Fitzgibbon, who represents the Hunter region, which is at the centre of a separate NSW inquiry into an alleged cover-up of child sex abuse, believes the wider national commission will take a long time.
"It will be a big and slow-moving beast and, make no mistake, it will cause trauma for many individuals and organisations," Mr Fitzgibbon told ABC radio on Tuesday.
"The royal commission could take a decade."
Mr Fitzgibbon said the NSW special commission of inquiry, which will examine a possible cover-up of abuse by clergy within the Maitland-Newcastle diocese of the Catholic Church, was still needed because it could report more quickly. Another parliamentary inquiry is under way in Victoria.
Acting Families Minister Brendan O'Connor, who will help set up the royal commission, says the federal government can't set a time limit.
"The nature of royal commissions and the history ... is you provide them with control over their own destiny," he told ABC TV.
"It's very hard to determine exactly the duration. We have to allow the commission to do its good work."
Mr O'Connor insisted Labor was acting "as quickly as possible" by moving to have the terms of reference determined by the end of the year.
Independent senator Nick Xenophon says the commission should be given just two years.
"It can't drag on for nine or 10 years as the Irish commission of inquiry did," he told ABC TV.
Shadow attorney-general George Brandis said the commission essentially had to follow the evidence wherever it led.
"There should be an indicative time limit but these time limits can't really be enforced in a strict way," he told Sky News.
"If the royal commissioner uncovers avenues of inquiry that need to be explored well they just have to be explored."
The commission will cover all religious institutions, state-based organisations, schools and not-for-profit groups such as scouts and sporting clubs.
Mr Fitzgibbon paid tribute to Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, whose claims of a cover-up over Catholic clergy abuse in the Hunter prompted the NSW special commission of inquiry.
"He will become a national hero if all those concerns he expressed are confirmed," the MP said.
Det Insp Fox himself is "elated" there'll be a national royal commission and welcomes its breadth.
"There are so many other things that are wrong within other religious institutions and groups within this country," he told ABC radio.
The detective said speaking out meant he "sadly" didn't have a future with the police force.
"But look at what we've got ... it's been worth that sacrifice," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment