George Pell defends compensation scheme as 'ahead of the curve'

Melissa Davey

Cardinal George Pell has described a compensation scheme for victims of child sex abuse that he introduced to the Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne in 1996 as “ahead of the curve”.

Appearing on Thursday afternoon before the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse via video link from the Vatican, Pell defended the church’s response to investigating sex abuse claims, called the Melbourne Response, which included compensating some victims.

Earlier in the week three witnesses had criticised the scheme for capping payments to victims at $50,000 when it was first introduced, and then at $75,000 since 1998.

Chrissie Foster told the commission her two daughters were abused by a priest at Sacred Heart school in the late 80s and through to the early 90s. She told on Monday how her family withdrew their compensation claims under the Melbourne Response.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/21/george-pell-defends-abuse-compensation-scheme