A NEW Queensland law requires priests to report to police any information about child sexual offences heard during confession.
According to the law, all adults will have a legal duty to report sexual offending against children to police, unless they have a reasonable excuse for not doing so.
The law came in to force on July 5. It passed through the state parliament with support from both major parties last September, despite the Catholic Church defending the seal of confession.
In a formal submission to a parliamentary inquiry, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge explained that stripping Catholics of the seal of confession made priests “less a servant of God than an agent of the state”.
The new law in Queensland arose as a result of recommendations from the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse, and means it is mandatory for all adults to report sexual offences against children to police – unless they have a reasonable excuse not to.
The maximum penalty for failing to report belief of a child sexual offence is 3 years’ imprisonment.
Queensland joins South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania as well as the Australian Capital Territory to have already enacted laws that make it a criminal offence for a priest to withhold abuse disclosures.
A Brisbane Archdiocese letter sent to all parish employees explained the changes “should be noted by all Queenslanders, including those within our parishes and schools and similar institutions.”
“Institutions can include the likes of schools, religious organisations, government agencies, sporting clubs and youth organisations,” the letter said.
“The offender’s association with the institution may be as an employee, volunteer, any person who requires a blue card in their role or anyone delivering a service to a child under the care or supervision of the institution.
“A person is deemed accountable if they “have the power or responsibility to remove or reduce the risk and … wilfully or negligently fails to remove or reduce the risk”.
“This offence requires accountable adults to act in a way to prevent abuse from occurring, not to wait until abuse has occurred.
“Please note that the legislation states that ‘it does not matter that the knowledge was gained by the accountable person during, or in connection with, a religious confession’.”
Further information on what constitutes child sexual offences can be found on the Queensland Government website at: https://www.qld.gov.au/law/crime-and-police/types-of-crime/sexual-offences-against-children/laws#child-sexual-offence
