Labor MP Dave Kelly accuses Catholic Archbishop of lies during child sex abuse debate: ‘He should be ashamed’

A State Labor MP has used parliamentary privilege to accuse Catholic Archbishop Tim Costelloe of giving “false” and “misleading” evidence during an inquiry into child sex abuse. Dave Kelly said the Perth Archbishop “should be ashamed of himself” over his claim that the Catholic Church follows model litigant guidelines. “He told us he accepted full responsibility for the actions of his clergy and that he would instruct lawyers to deal with victims who came forward in a way that was compassionate, that he would not rely on the black letter of the law,” Mr Kelly said. “All of that was patently false. . . I believe that the Archbishop’s evidence to that committee was dishonest, disingenuous and misleading.” Mr Kelly was speaking during a debate over new legislation to close a legal loophole exposed by a High Court decision that found religious institutions could not be held liable for abuse committed by paedophile priests, because they were employed by God. At a parliamentary inquiry in September 2023, Archbishop Costelloe issued a public apology “to those who have been so badly wronged” but denied he was trying to evade responsibility. Mr Kelly said he would have known the Catholic Church was mounting arguments in Victoria to “extinguish claims against clergy” and should have told the inquiry. “If he had brought that to the committee’s attention, we would have recommended that we pass legislation to close that loophole before it opened,” Mr Kelly said. “If he had drawn that to our attention, we would have made a recommendation. . . He didn’t. He absolutely didn’t.” The Archdiocese of Perth has been contacted for comment. Attorney-General Tony Buti has vowed to close the loophole now, with legislation that will deem religious practitioners are employees for the purposes of child sexual abuse civil actions. He told Parliament the new laws will be retrospective. “We are the first State to introduce legislation in response to the Bird decision,” Dr Buti said. “In respect to community expectation, I think people would most people would have all would have expected that a priest-church relationship was an employment relationship. That’s why there was such shock and surprise at the decision of the High Court.” He praised Mr Kelly and victim-survivors for their “incredible work” fighting for change, but stopped short of promising to fully implement the inquiry’s outstanding recommendations, including removing limitation periods for personal injury claims and a dedicated outreach program for survivors. A recommendation for a public list of known abusers was rejected by the Government.