By KATH GANNAWAY
LIBERAL MP Georgie Crozier gave a personal insight into the Victorian Government’s inquiry into child sexual abuse that has already led to ground-breaking changes to legislation in Victoria.
Ms Crozier, who chaired the bi-partisan inquiry, addressed a public meeting in Healesville on Monday 12 May as guest of Seymour MP and Liberal candidate for Eildon, Cindy McLeish.
Ms Crozier said she was not going to talk about individual cases but about the process of the inquiry which handed down its findings in November last year in The Betrayal of Trust report.
It was, inevitably, an emotional meeting.
The families of victims of convicted paedophile priests David Daniel and Paul Pavlou, among others who made submissions to the inquiry, took the opportunity to make contact with Ms Crozier in a less formal environment.
A small group of parishioners from St Brigid’s Catholic Church were at the meeting, along with Yarra Ranges councillor Jim Child.
Ms Crozier made the point that it was not only the Catholic Church that was under scrutiny, but other church and youth organisations.
She said, however, that the overwhelming majority of submissions came from victims of the Catholic Church.
Ms Crozier said it was an enormous privilege to chair the inquiry which she said aimed to be less legalistic than a Royal Commission and was a forum where people could speak freely.
“Many of you know of the effects it (abuse) has had on communities, on this community, and the ripple effect it has had on communities such as Healesville,” she said.
“There are people in this room who were incredibly brave and courageous and came before this inquiry to tell their story as others did around Victoria.”
She spoke of the terms or reference and the support established including top level lawyers, police, counsellors, solicitors and administrative and media people, to ensure that the inquiry delivered the best outcomes.
The meeting heard that support was needed not only for the people appearing at the inquiry, but for those who heard of the volumes of tragedy that was wreaked on children and their families over many decades.
Ms Crozier fielded questions on the report process and the legislation that has resulted, as well as changes and outcomes that are beyond the State Government’s ability to deliver – such as compensation and the civil court action against the Catholic Church, and the ability of people to have compensation paid in the past reviewed.
Ms Crozier said the government had put aside $10.1 million in funding to support the recommendations of the report.
“I think what we have done and, again, I commend these people who came forward because the community was genuinely horrified by what they heard and as a community is determined this will never happen again,” she said.
One of the issues that got to the heart of the damage done over so many decades came from a woman who told her story of abuse and of the legacy she lives with every day.
She spoke of the stigma of living on welfare as a result of mental health problems which have affected her ability to work.
It was a story others in the audience shared, talking openly about everyday hardship faced by families of victims and the difficulty in accessing adequate services.
The next night Cr Jim Child told Yarra Ranges councillors that the meeting had been one of the most moving he had ever attended.
“What surprised me in listening to these people and this Betrayal of Trust is that they are still doing it so hard,” he said.
“There were people there last night in tears.
“I think we have a responsibility to these people and I’m of a view that we have to protect these people’s human rights and their rights to be involved in an organisation without being abused,” he said.
He said the most important thing a community could do was to not forget the people, what they have gone through and what they continue to go through.
“They have to re-tell the trauma when the go to a Centrelink office, explain why they’re there, why they are in this situation, and that’s absolutely traumatising to them,” he said.
