Kimberley leaders hail jailing of 'evil' bishop as crucial step towards justice

Local leaders in the Kimberley region are hailing the jailing of disgraced former bishop Christopher Saunders as a crucial step towards justice, but are also calling for greater vigilance in exposing sexual abusers.

The Aboriginal community leader, Albert Wiggan, has described the jailing of Saunders as like "cutting off the head of a snake". He views the Catholic cleric as an "evil predator" and is urging people to call out sex abusers. "They’ve exposed this bloke for who he is," Mr Wiggan said. "But the community has to become more vigilant about exposing this type of behaviour."

Mr Wiggan hopes the court sentence will encourage community members to speak out about sexual abuse. He has known Saunders since childhood but claims he never experienced inappropriate behaviour himself. However, he feels deeply for those who did, describing a sense of betrayal that is still sinking in.

A call for action

This call for action is echoed by the current Bishop of Broome, Tim Norton, who acknowledges that the Catholic Church has been too slow to act in addressing the issue of sexual abuse. "As a church I hope we are learning in this very deep and difficult process," Bishop Norton said. "I sense we are but it's a slow pace. It needs to be a lot faster."

Saunders was sentenced to more than six years in prison for sexually assaulting two young men. The evidence presented during a three-week trial painted a stark contrast to the "hero" image that Albert Wiggan was led to believe as a child. The former bishop had overseen baptisms, marriages, and funerals for generations of local families.

"There was folklore about him ... we know about him through stories our parents would share," Mr Wiggan said. He noted that families in remote Aboriginal communities had grown to trust him with their loved ones. "It makes him incredibly evil in a way ... he did a really good job of convincing people he was a good person," Mr Wiggan said.

Abuse of power

Bishop Norton agrees that the church's abuse of power in the Kimberley was "inexcusable". "Being in a place that is remote and even forgotten about by a lot of Australia ... that has been allowed to go on for too long," he said. "There aren't really words we have to describe the levels of hurt and pain people are suffering."

Despite Saunders' guilty verdict, no action has been taken by the Catholic Church to defrock him, meaning he retains his honorary titles and benefits from a retirement package negotiated in 2021.

Human rights advocate and Noongar woman Dr Hannah McGlade said the six-year sentence was a positive outcome, but the church still needed to take responsibility for the harm inflicted. The Curtin University Associate Professor noted that the lasting impacts of institutional abuse continued to affect men, women, and children today.

"It's well known that for Aboriginal men, the stigma is particularly severe and it's not safe to talk about sexual abuse," Dr McGlade said. "Without proper healing and intervention, the cycles have unfortunately sometimes continued with men who were once victims becoming perpetrators."

Hope for the future

Bishop Norton expressed his commitment to moving forward with the community, citing the resilience of the people in the Kimberley as "extraordinary". The church will hold healing and reconciliation sessions in Broome, open to everyone in the community.

Mr Wiggan believes the court sentence "sets a precedent". He hopes it will provide more survivors of sexual abuse with the strength to come forward. "It really does give victims of this kind of abuse hope and an opportunity to get the justice they truly deserve," he said. "I hope there will be more brave people out there and more people who come out and share their story because it needs to happen."