A special commission was set up after accusations that a police investigation into child sexual abuse allegations in Maitland-Newcastle diocese was a sham.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox asserted there was a "Catholic mafia" in the New South Wales police which covered up crimes.

He claimed he had been forced to stand down from an investigation into allegations about two paedophile priests, Frs Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher.

The special commission's report, delivered to the New South Wales state government on May 30, found no evidence to support Detective Chief Inspector Fox's claims.

He subsequently told Fairfax he stood by his actions and would "walk the same path" if such matters came before him again.

Commissioner Margaret Cunneen determined that a number of senior Catholic clergy intentionally misled investigations and were unreliable witnesses.

The conduct of some senior clergy was also called "inexcusable".

The commission found that information supplied to the police by Bishop Michael Malone, head of Maitland Newcastle diocese from 1995 to 2011, was both "late and inaccurate".

Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference general secretary Fr Brian Lucas was found to have failed to protect children in attempting to have Fr McAlinden resign from ministry, rather than reporting him to police.

The commission also found there is sufficient evidence to warrant the prosecution of a senior church official.

In an initial response to the commission's findings, Bishop Bill Wright of Maitland-Newcastle diocese said the report had his complete respect.

But he said reading it will be a bitter exercise for members of the diocese.

Bishop Wright, in a video posted to YouTube, reiterated previous apologies to victims, their friends and families and others.

He said his was not the only church to have had abusive priests, and it was not the only institution to have failed to protect children.

"However none of that diminishes the historical realities that we as a diocese have to deal with," he noted.

"I believe that the Cunneen report will be a significant step in that process."

Sources

• Sydney Morning Herald
• Maitland Mercury
• Bishop Wright statement (YouTube)
• Image: ABC

The diocese, in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney, has settled at least 78 claims, with about 25 outstanding.

These settlements are for victims of abuse alleged to have taken place between the 1960s and 1990s, involving at least 10 alleged perpetrators, including priests and teachers.

Many relate to one priest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and they include what is thought to be the largest such settlement in Australia, of more than $NZ2.5 million.

Lawyer John Ellis, whose firm of David Beggs and Associates has negotiated many of the settlements, said the culture of alleged abuse was likely to be worse in Maitland-Newcastle than in other Catholic dioceses in Australia.

"Maitland-Newcastle had a large number of serial offenders, some of whom operated over many years, even decades," Mr Ellis said. "The other striking feature is the strong evidence of senior Church officials knowing about the abuse and doing nothing to prevent it."

There is no suggestion that current diocesan officials knew about the historical abuse, although police are investigating "alleged cover-ups" of assaults by one priest.

Mr Ellis said the diocese has a dark history. "What has happened in that diocese over the period, and the claims that we've dealt with go over several decades, is just an extraordinary.

"Concentration of claims over that period of time is quite in excess of anything we're aware of in any other diocese," he said.

The cost of settlements has taken its toll on the diocese, whose insurers are understood not to cover any claim where it can be shown the Church had prior knowledge of the alleged abuse.

Bishop Bill Wright of Maitland-Newcastle has said the costs "were a factor" in a 2010 decision to sell a number of aged-care facilities operated by the diocese across the Hunter region.

Sources:

The Australian

ABC

Image: OZinOH