THE federal government won't put a time limit on the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse or restrict the inquiry's scope, despite concerns it could drag on for a decade.
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Labor chief whip Joel Fitzgibbon warned yesterday that the commission would be a "big and slow-moving beast".
"The royal commission could take a decade," he told ABC radio.
"And make no mistake, it will cause trauma for many individuals and organisations."
The commission will cover all religious institutions, state-based organisations, schools and not-for-profit groups such as scouts and sporting clubs.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the inquiry on Monday, following fresh allegations that the Catholic Church and police covered up abuse in the Hunter region of NSW.
But Australia's most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, hopes the wide-ranging royal commission will actually stop a "smear campaign" against his church.
"We are not interested in denying the extent of misdoing in the Catholic Church," he said.
"(But) we object to it being exaggerated. We object to being described as the only cab on the rank."