Cardinal George Pell, The Catholic Church and Child Sex Abuse | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Cardinal George Pell, The Catholic Church and Child Sex Abuse

LeeToRainesToRoach

Tiger Legend
Jun 4, 2006
33,186
11,546
Melbourne
Interesting to see where the 'Hang Pell' brigade sit with this.

Outrage as Labor blocks mandatory terms for pedophiles (paywalled)

Labor has blocked attempts to impose mandatory minimum sentencing for child sex offenders after teaming up with the Greens in the Senate to strip the provisions from the government’s new child protection laws.

The move prompted condemnation from Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who accused Labor of backing “pedophiles over Australian kids”. While Labor voted for the bill, it used a procedural motion to strip out mandatory minimum sentencing, setting up a showdown, with the government on Monday night saying it would send the bill back to the Senate to be voted on again.

Labor succeeded with the support of the Greens, Centre Alliance and Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie in blocking provisions that would have imposed minimum terms of five to seven years for the worst offences. “It is one of the worst acts I have seen in my 20 years in parliament,” Mr Dutton said. “Anthony Albanese needs to look parents in the eye and explain his betrayal of them. Labor has backed pedophiles over Australian kids.”

Labor let the bill pass the lower house but has maintained opposition to the mandatory sentencing provisions and warned last week it would be seeking to remove them in the Senate. “Child sex crime is something that is beyond comprehension, and it is something that should be stamped out,” Mr Albanese said last week. “We will assist in any way possible.”

The sentencing provisions were a 2019 election commitment but are opposed by groups including the Law Council, whose president Pauline Wright on Monday described mandatory terms as “abhorrent to the whole notion of sentencing”. In the Senate, Labor’s Murray Watt said: “Mandatory sentencing is wrong in principle, does nothing to reduce or deter crime and, worst of all, it has adverse consequences.”

He said Labor supported other elements of the bill, including powers to revoke parole for pedophiles in the interest of community safety, longer sentences for abuse of children overseas and new grooming offences.

“Labor has a longstanding opposition to mandatory sentencing,” Senator Watts said.

“Mandatory sentencing may sound tough, but there is nothing tough about sentencing measures that make it more difficult to catch, prosecute and convict child sex offenders.

“There is nothing tough about measures that do nothing to reduce crime or criminality. And there is nothing tough about sentencing measures that could, in some cases, result in unjust sentences being handed out to 18 or 19-year-olds.

“Children are the most precious and vulnerable members of our community and Labor will always support strong and effective laws to protect children from abuse and to punish their abusers.”

Attorney-General Christian Porter said the amended bill would be rejected when it returned to the lower house. “Labor has used a procedural tactic to vote down imposing mandatory minimum sentences,” he said. “Given that last year 39 per cent of convicted commonwealth child sex offenders did not spend a single day in jail, it is extremely disappointing that — notwithstanding Anthony Albanese saying in the parliament last week that he and Labor would assist in ‘whatever way necessary’ to toughen penalties against child-sex offenders — in the Senate Labor used procedural tactics to vote against mandatory minimum sentences.”
 

Tiger44

Tiger Superstar
Sep 23, 2005
1,163
359
Good to see Georgie Peorgie had no trouble flying to Rome - seems his health has taken a turn for the better!
 
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TrialByVideo

HailBGale!
Mar 1, 2015
4,422
8,532
Good to see Georgie Peorgie had no trouble flying to Rome - seems his health has taken a turn for the better!
Probably catching up with the new pommie trade envoy/alter boy/seminarian/pm & best bum buddy to swap old war stories of their days in the seminary!
 
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Giardiasis

Tiger Legend
Apr 20, 2009
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LeeToRainesToRoach

Tiger Legend
Jun 4, 2006
33,186
11,546
Melbourne

Star witness accepted the appeal decision very readily. Was it because he'd already been paid off?
 

LeeToRainesToRoach

Tiger Legend
Jun 4, 2006
33,186
11,546
Melbourne

Questions over the Vatican’s $1.1 million cash transfer to Australia remain unsolved (paywalled)​

Anthony Dowsley & Mark Buttler
Herald Sun
January 17, 2021

A Vatican money transfer of $1.1m to Australia is destined to remain unresolved.

A stalemate in tracking the money trail has left the probe into whether Cardinal George Pell’s trial was corrupted at a dead end, with no investigative body prepared to delve into the mystery cash movement.

The Vatican's financial transfers occurred the same year Cardinal Pell was charged with historical sex crimes.

Federal financial crime watchdog AUSTRAC, which identified the transfer late last year following media reports in Italy, shared its intelligence with three large investigative bodies — the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and anti-corruption body IBAC.

But none of these bodies has exposed what the money was for or where it ended up.

More recent reports have revealed Vatican transfers of $9.5m to Australia since 2014.

Questions raised with AUSTRAC, Victoria Police and IBAC about the use of the funds have gone unanswered.

The lack of transparency has raised concerns within the Pell camp, which continues to call for a proper investigation into whether funds were funnelled to pay the Cardinal’s accuser, known as Witness J.

Witness J testified that Cardinal Pell sexually assaulted him in 1996 and 1997 at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne.

Victoria Police in October played down the significance of the transfer without giving reason, other than to state AUSTRAC had not advised it of any “suspicious activity related to these transactions’’.

While confirming the payments had been wired from the Vatican over a ‘’period of time’’, Victoria Police was not prepared to investigate further without other evidence or intelligence.

The case was also referred to IBAC, Victoria’s underfunded anti-corruption body, which was stifled by its own charter. It dismissed the probe in November last year, stating that the investigative “threshold’’ had not been met.

IBAC told the Herald Sun it would not take the investigation further.

AUSTRAC has also walked away from the probe.

Cardinal Pell protested privately before his trial that he believed he had been set up by his enemies within the Vatican, whom he was investigating over financial corruption.

True or not, there has been little transparency in the money transfer.

Liberal MP Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who has been pursuing the issue in the Senate, said answers needed to be found.

“Allegations about transfers of Vatican funds to Australia, including any connection to the Pell matter, are complicated issues involving activities in Australia and the Vatican,” she said.

“Legitimate questions remain unanswered both in Australia and at the Vatican, including from AUSTRAC, the AFP, DFAT and most particularly from Victoria Police, IBAC and judicial authorities.”

Ms Fierravanti-Wells said the allegations were serious and would have significant consequences if true.

The High Court of Australia acquitted Cardinal Pell in April 2020, overturning his 2018 conviction of committing sexual crimes against the two teenagers.

Cardinal Pell has always maintained his innocence.
 

K3

Tiger Legend
Oct 9, 2006
5,213
972
He's dead.

Can't say it's a sad day, as his many victims (IMO, there are MANY) are still out there trying to deal with the aftermath of what he either did or knew was being done.

If I believed in hell, I'd say that's where he'd be!
 

The Big Richo

Tiger Champion
Aug 19, 2010
3,154
5,024
The home of Dusty
Today's the one time I hope all the nonsense he spouts is true.

Hope he is in hell riding a red hot poker for eternity. Good riddance you rock spider.
 
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eZyT

Tiger Legend
Jun 28, 2019
21,434
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Today's the one time I hope all the nonsense he spouts is true.

Hope he is in hell riding a red hot poker for eternity. Good riddance you rock spider.

Its worth reading through the replies to Tony Abbotts twitter eulogy with some popcorn.
 
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TigerForce

Tiger Legend
Apr 26, 2004
70,725
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Due to testify but died soon.....hmm....get ready for someone to start an Elvis conspiracy.
 

Nico

You psychopathological reactionary!
Jul 1, 2004
2,274
2,059
Melbourne
Yet to be proved that he was a kiddy fiddler, but he certainly turned a blind eye to other kiddy fiddlers which is just as bad in my book. If I knew anyone abusing kids, be they a friend, family member, whoever...they are going down.

Rot in hell filthy scumbag.
 
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