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    People Are Really Mad At This Newspaper Columnist

    Publisher calls sexual abuse the "crime of the moment with the ABC and SBS."

    This provocative opinion piece appeared in the Hamilton Spectator newspaper in Victoria on Anzac Day.

    Would anyone but the publisher get away with writing something like this? #mediawatch

    It had gone pretty much unnoticed until the Media Watch Twitter account published a photo of it this afternoon.

    The "Spec Blog" argued that a priest's three-month term for indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl in the 1970s was too severe.

    This piece argues that at 83, the priest is too old to be a danger to society. It goes on to suggest that child abuse is the "crime of the moment with the ABC and SBS."

    The piece, which was written by the newspaper's publisher Richard Beks, also said the crime had the "hallmarks of misguided curiosity."

    Twitter isn't happy

    That is incredible! Shame on the Hamilton Spectator! https://t.co/6OsRslDhV4

    "merely touching an U16 girl's breast and genitals" is "misguided curiosity" according to the Hamilton Spectator #ew https://t.co/PN9uwEz6Fy

    @colvinius @abcmediawatch Who the … heck is Richard Beks? Well, I mean, I've googled & know who he is… just… who does he *think* he is!??

    Idiot of the day: Richard Beks https://t.co/ij4GtgTAMN

    The Hamilton Spectator did not immediately respond to a request for comment.