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.
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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.