TRUTH Justice and Healing Council chief executive officer Francis Sullivan has responded to allegations regarding the council’s control by a separate supervisory group of bishops and heads of religious orders.
Mr Sullivan (pictured) said media reports had questioned the council’s relationship with the Catholic Church “and, by extension, its independence”.
He said the TJHC was not structurally independent of the Church but said when Archbishop Denis Hart had invited him to head the TJHC he had told the archbishop he would not run a “spin machine”.
“Our terms of reference, which make very clear the role of the supervisory group and our reporting requirements, are on our website and more recently the members of the group have been added,” Mr Sullivan said.
“What is clear from our terms of reference is that the council is not structurally independent – the council is funded by the Church, the staff are employed by the Church and I am hired and fired by the Church.
“But what the Church did when it created the Truth Justice and Healing Council is acknowledge it needed advice from a new group on how to respond to the Commission and on how to develop better policies to protect children.
“That is what we are doing.
“Providing advice that is informed by the experiences of some of Australia’s most recognised experts across child sexual abuse, mental illness, child trauma, education and governance.
“The council is also attuned to the concerns of victims with one council member having been subjected to clerical sexual abuse and three with close family members who have been abused.”
Mr Sullivan said he could understand some might have a perception the council, “because of its structure, is not able to provide independent advice or that advice might not be acted on”.
“As with so many of the things we say and do, I ask those people to judge us by our actions and our achievements,” he said.
“Over the past six months, the council has provided advice to the supervisory group ranging across the Church’s legal approach to the Royal Commission – open and transparent – to reforms to the way Church schools, health and welfare services protect children and promote environments that are safe for children.
“All our recommendations have been accepted.
“We expect that to remain the case.”
