OPPOSITION Leader Bill Shorten has stood by his call for Cardinal George Pell to return to Australia for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Mr Shorten called for Cardinal Pell to return to Australia to respond to allegations he tried to bribe a victim to drop sexual abuse charges.
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Cardinal Pell now works as the finance chief at the Vatican and resides in Rome.
During his visit to Ballarat on Sunday, Mr Shorten said Cardinal Pell should co-operate with the royal commission.
“It’s the obligation of everyone to co-operate with this royal commission regardless of who they are,” heMr Shorten said. “If that includes George Pell, so be it, and he should be back and co-operate with the royal commission.”
Ballarat MP Catherine King agreed, saying anyone who had information that could assist with the royal commission should be here.
Cardinal Pell released a statement online last Wednesday night saying he had already addressed many of the claims levelled against him in a Victorian parliamentary inquiry in 2013, and he stood by those statements.
