THE ROYAL COMMISSION

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IN THE NEWS: THE GUARDIAN - George Pell to give royal commission evidence

Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic and the Vatican’s financial manager, is to give evidence to a royal commission from the Hotel Quirinale in Rome.

Justice Peter McClellan, the chair of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, made the announcement on Tuesday morning from Ballarat, where the third round of hearings about abuse that occurred within the local Catholic diocese began this week.

He confirmed that testing of the venue for sound and connection quality to Australia had been successful. The royal commission also confirmed that it was taking applications from people wishing to attend the hearing to watch Pell give evidence in person.

A group of roughly 15 people and their supporters, including counsellors, will make the trip on Saturday, though at least one person from the group will fly out on Wednesday owing to a medical illness which means he requires a 24-hour stopover mid-trip.

The trip is possible thanks to a crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $200,000 to cover the cost of the survivors’ flights, accommodation and food. The campaign was launched after lawyers for Pell twice tendered medical documents to the commission that said he was too unwell to fly to Australia – prompting the survivors to go to him.

Stephen Woods, a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of three religious figures within the diocese of Ballarat, said it was a highly emotional time for survivors. The royal commission hearings were taking their toll on him, he said.

“I’m not sure at this stage if I’m going to Rome,” he said. “But what bothers me is that there has been no major revelation from religious figures so far throughout all of the Ballarat hearings. The only openness and revelations have come from survivors.

“We have been getting the same obfuscation and spin and lack of transparency from religious staff. I hope over the next two weeks, and when Pell gives evidence, that this obfuscation comes to an end.”

Pell’s evidence will begin on 29 February at 8am AEDT.

On Tuesday the commission will hear evidence from Brother Paul Nangle, a former headmaster of St Patrick’s College, Ballarat. On Monday an abuse survivor, Martinus Claasen, told the commission Nangle had accused him of making the abuse up.

The hearings over the next fortnight are focusing on the Ballarat branch of the Christian Brothers, a religious community within the Catholic church who primarily worked in educational facilities for children. In all, 281 members of the Christian Brothers in Australia have been subject to one or more claims or substantiated complaints of child sexual abuse, the commission has heard, with 45% of that abuse occurring in Tasmania or Victoria.

The hearings continue.

.....(in Britain) a body set up by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister to gather information about the operation of existing laws or to investigate any social, educational, or other matter. The commission has prescribed terms of reference and reports to the government on how any change might be achieved.

Royal commissions are advisory committees established by the government to investigate a matter of public concern on an ad-hoc basis.

The government may set up a royal commission if it wishes to be seen as addressing the investigation in a non-party political way.

A government is not bound to accept the advice of any royal commission.

Fewer royal commissions have been established in recent years.

In practice, royal commissions have sometimes been established to deal with issues that a government feels may be too controversial to be seen tackling itself.

The size of a royal commission, its chairperson, membership and remit are set by the government.

Most commissions take evidence, deliberate and then produce a final report.

The government usually outlines at the time of its establishment when it expects a royal commission to produce its final conclusions.

The average duration from establishment to report is between two and four years.

But certain royal commissions can have a semi-permanent existence.

For example, the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts was first set up in 1869 with the task of advising and assisting in the preservation of historical manuscripts and to publish them.

It is still in existence today.

THE ROYAL COMMISSION

Then there is the Royal Commission, which in theory will put an application to a court through to the Lord Bishops. Theory, because any corrupt judges in the pipeline who rule the courts, will simply strike an inconvenient application out. Before that the Court administration, usually Clerks or Masters, is the filtering system by which claims of corruption are denied a hearing. Corrupt officials will do anything to stop the Royal Family and the Prime Minister hearing about Fraud in their courts or in the system - and for that they may be knighted by the back door - for services rendered.

Sometimes the Prime Minister is not an honest officer of the land, in which case the job of getting heard will be harder still. David Cameron is one PM who is considered to be an honest officer, properly serving Her Majesty. But, even so, applications citing the Attorney General or the Home Office are not getting through. The proof is in the pudding. Many are trying and being led a merry dance.

Barristers and Judges know that they must service local government frauds. If they do not, they will soon be cut out of the pie. So they tow the party line. They convict anyone just for the asking, knowing that council officials will fabricate evidence to help them get the job done - and they actively assist in controlling their courts in biased fashion.

Sometimes it is not fabricating evidence is the sense of creating false evidence, it is simply not investigating, or only presenting evidence for the prosecution. Some statute has been crafted as a tool to assist the courts obtain fraudulent convictions. Once such abomination is the Sexual Offences Act, where a person is guilty until proven innocent - instead of being innocent until proven guilty, as required by Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

LINKS

BBC News UK politics the royal commission

The Guardian Australian news 2016 February 23 George Pell to give royal commission evidence from Rome's hotel quirinale

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/23/george-pell-to-give-royal-commission-evidence-from-romes-hotel-quirinale

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/258957.stm

SUSSEX ROGUES GALLERY - WDC officers and Members involved in covering up the history of Herstmonceux Museum in Sussex, where their dishonesty and misuse of authority constitutes malfeasance in public office - a criminal offence that should be prosecuted - and probably would be, but the Sussex police are implicated, the corruption is that widespread.

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