An Altona Meadows woman who spoke at last week’s Rally of Hope at Victoria’s Parliament House has criticised Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s defence of Cardinal George Pell over the Catholic Church’s handling of child sex abuse.
Mairead Ashcroft addressed Wednesday’s rally (pictured), which coincided with the tabling of a state government report on clergy and non-religious institutions’ child sex abuse.
Ms Ashcroft gave evidence before the Victorian inquiry into the handling of child abuse that she had been abused by Catholic brother Bernard Hartman, from age 8 to 11.
Hartman, 73, has been charged with 14 counts of indecent assault and is scheduled to face court next Thursday.
The day after the rally, Mr Abbott told Fairfax radio that he ‘‘had a lot of time for Cardinal Pell”. Mr Abbott said he hadn’t read the parliamentary report, which states Cardinal Pell’s evidence revealed “a reluctance to acknowledge and accept responsibility for the Catholic Church’s institutional failure to respond appropriately to allegations of criminal child abuse”.
Ms Ashcroft said she was appalled Mr Abbott had not read the historic report.
“Abbott’s opinions of Pell gave me the sad realisation that church and state are still closely linked as was the situation in the Middle Ages,” she told the Weekly. “Religion has no business in politics and politics no place in a religious institution in 2013.
“The tabling of the report into child abuse … is a historical document. You would think that the country’s elected leader might take a little interest in the findings. I find it very disappointing that on such a momentous occasion, the elected leader of our country seems to be uninformed.
“Is he unaware of how many lives have been traumatised and what that means for the mental health of Australia? How will the survivors of abuse get the help that they need if this is our leader’s attitude?”
