Aussie PM to apologize to sex abuse victims

SYDNEY (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will deliver a national apology to child sex abuse victims as part of the government’s response to a long-running inquiry that heard allegations against government and private institutions and prominent individuals in five years of hearings.

The apology to be delivered on Oct. 22 was announced yesterday as Turnbull outlined his government’s formal reaction to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Its inquiry ended in December after taking evidence from leaders such as Vatican Cardinal George Pell, who is charged with committing historical sex abuses himself and was accused of failing to protect children.

Turnbull’s government will adopt 104 of the 122 recommendations the royal commission made to it, including establishing a national office for child safety and joining a redress payments program. The 18 other recommendations remain under consideration.

“It’s been harrowing work,” Turnbull told a news conference in Canberra. “Now that we’ve uncovered the shocking truth, we must do everything in our power to honor the bravery of the thousands of people who came forward.”

The royal commission, Australia’s highest form of investigation, heard more than 8,000 harrowing personal stories alleging sexual abuse. Taking evidence at 57 public hearings across the country, it heard of alleged abuse in various institutions, including schools, sport and hobby groups, and religious organizations.

Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic official, gave evidence to the inquiry on three separate occasions. A counsel to the royal commission said in final submissions that Pell and other Catholic officials had failed to exercise proper care for children in Victoria state by not acting on information about alleged sexual abuse by priests — an allegation Pell strenuously denied.