With Govt. providing more than $16bn per annum to Catholic enterprises

With Govt. providing more than $16bn per annum to Catholic enterprises

With the Catholic Church in Australia believed to own assets worth more than $100 billion, with our Government providing more than $16bn per annum to Catholic enterprises plus tax relief, plus company tax relief, plus no requirement to file income tax returns, plus receive exemptions on GST, fringe benefits tax (of more than $15,000 per employee), stamp duty on property transfers, payroll tax on non-commercial activities, land tax and rates, and do not have to pay tax on commercial businesses or pay capital gains tax on the sale of assets. This is all on an un-accountable income (There are no requirements for them to provide accountable figures. Some sectors simply refuse to reveal their revenue.). In addition the Catholic Church are provided with a wide range of legal and other benefits and exemptions.

When the extent of the sexual abuse of children by paedophile Catholic priests in Australia is known universally and it is recognised internationally as one of the hardest hit countries, when it is universally acknowledged that the continuation of sexual abuse of children is an ongoing aspect of the largest single identifiable instance of institutionalised pedophilia in Australia.

When all this is seemingly swept under the radar by our Governments there is more than enough to say that there is an abject failure on the part of our Government to uphold the basic human rights of its citizens.

There is no legal requirement for the Catholic Church to disclose documents or to provide information detailing the sexual abuse of children and accusations of sexual abuse of children by members of the Catholic Church; there is no legal requirement for the Catholic Church to release the urgently needed results of its own research into the numbers of abusive priests and other religious and the number of victims and the impact on their lives.

When our own Government funds in this way without any demands or requirements for the Catholic Church to function within the laws of this country and within those Human Rights treaties Australia is signatory to or to seek the provision of social justice or to ensure that the Catholic Church makes restitution for past abuses; when our Government maintains obsolete statute of limitation laws enabled and used by the Catholic Church to avoid its social and legal responsibilities and continues to fund the Catholic Church at these rates while it fails to place any requirements for the Catholic Church to identify all religious with credible accusations of pedophilia and other sexual crimes against them, when those things are happening and continuing to happen without any sign of intervention or Government control then at least the Government should acknowledge its failures and publicly warn every parent that it is incapable of bringing a halt to the sexual abuse of their children by unaccountable predatory Catholic priests and enabling Bishops.

John Brown  email