1 Mar 2018

Govt urged to include churches in abuse inquiry

From Morning Report, 8:39 am on 1 March 2018

Earlier this week RNZ reported the story of a father and son who said they'd both been sexually abused while attending Catholic schools. The pair were angry Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had decided against including churches in the initial terms of reference for the pending Royal Commission into abuse in state care. They said that was at odds with earlier assurances she had given them that the Catholic church and schools would be covered by any inquiry initiated by Labour. The church's bishops declined our request for an interview this week. However its former head of professional standards Bill Kilgallon who, before he retired early this year, was responsible for dealing with the complaints of child abuse against the church, talks to Guyon Espiner.