29 Jul 2021

Government considered asking churches to help pay Royal Commission costs

From Morning Report, 8:27 am on 29 July 2021

The government considered asking churches to help pay for the Royal Commission into historic abuse in care, as it grappled with the inquiry's skyrocketing spending.

Just-released documents also show ministers considered saving cash by using artificial intelligence to analyse possibly sensitive documents.

Cabinet decided instead to take away the inquiry's ability to investigate the possibility of more recent cases of abuse, despite it saving little cash.

Political reporter Katie Scotcher has been looking over the documents.