But he also thinks it is inconceivable that any New Zealand community group would have its own private investigation system.

Writing for Spinoff, Becroft said that when he became children's commissioner mandatory reporting seemed a "no-brainer."

But he says all the experts he has spoken to argue against mandatory reporting because it would stretch the system to the breaking point.

More importantly, it may inhibit children, even when they become adults, from seeking help because they fear their situation will have to be immediately reported to the police.

However, Becroft says it is not enough to advise those alleging sexual abuse that they are free to go to the police.

"It is our duty, as a community, to go with them, to invite the investigation, to play our part in purging our community of this insidious plague."

The Children's Commissioner says "knowing what we know now about the effects of abuse and its incidence, to say nothing of conflicts of interest, it's indefensible for any organisation to even begin to justify a "do it yourself" approach."

He notes that: "along with others, the Roman Catholic Church has come to recognise that the best disinfectant is sunlight.

It is no accident, and a sign of hope for the future, that New Zealand's mainline churches have sought to be included within the scope of the Royal Commission into Abuse of Children in State Care," he said.

While New Zealand has requirements for the mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, they extend only to government organisations and the majority of non-profit organisations.

The law also applies to staff members of hospitals, institutions or residences where a child is living.

Anyone who is over 18 and aware of child abuse occurring in a household they live in or are a member of, must take reasonable steps to protect that child from death, serious harm or sexual assault.

Source

• thespinoff.co.nz
• thespinoff.co.nz
• Image: newshub.co.nz

According to whistleblowers closely involved with the now-defunct Encompass Australasia clinic — which some New Zealand priests attended — some paedophile clergy were diagnosed with a "mood disorder" so they could be treated at the Wesley Private Hospital in Sydney and meet private health insurance criteria.

Fairfax Media said a "well-placed source" aware of the status of some clergy treated by the Church clinic between 1997 and 2008 said he believed several did not have a mood disorder but were "cold and calculating criminals" who bragged about their exploits with children to others while at the hospital.

Fairfax Media reported that several sources said the clinicians at Encompass Australasia ran a world-class treatment centre, but it was used by some Church leaders as a "smokescreen" to hide paedophile clergy.

New South Wales upper house MP Gordon Moyes, who as superintendent of the Wesley Mission in the late 1990s was closely involved with the Encompass Australasia programme being set up at the Wesley Private Hospital, said that neither he nor hospital administrators knew the identity of clergy sent for treatment or the nature of their offences.

"In general we knew that they were largely priests of the Catholic Church who had engaged in various forms of serious sexual sins, particularly against children," Moyes said. "But Encompass was extremely secretive about all their business relationships."

Encompass Australasia, which was set up by the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, treated about 1100 clergy for sexual abuse problems, depression and substance addictions before it was deregistered in 2010.

In a submission to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry on sex abuse, the Catholic Church in Victoria has proposed mandatory reporting by ministers of religion and a new protocol for reporting offenders to police that would protect the privacy of victims who want anonymity.

The Archbishop of Melbourne, Archbishop Denis Hart, said there should be an exemption for information received during the sacrament of confession.

Sources:

The Age

Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

Image: World News