Former SA Anglican archbishop Ian George to appear at sexual abuse royal commission

By Nigel Hunt
Advertiser
January 24, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/jdlrxhk

Former SA Anglican archbishop Ian George.

Paedophile Robert Brandenburg.

FORMER Anglican Archbishop Ian George will be publicly questioned for the first time over the diocese’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse committed by notorious paedophile Robert Brandenburg.

Dr George, who resigned as archbishop in 2004 as a result of a damning report into the Adelaide dioceses’ handling of the Brandenburg allegations, is a key witness at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse public hearing in Hobart this week.

The commission is probing a paedophile network that operated within the Church of England Boys Society — predominantly in Tasmania and South Australia — for more than two decades.

It will examine the systems, policies and procedures in place both within the society and the respective Anglican dioceses and Anglicare in SA concerning youth camps and activities and how they responded to concerns and complaints about child sexual abuse since 1990.

The paedophile ring consisted of Brandenburg, an SA society leader and Anglicare employee who committed suicide in Adelaide in 1999 after being charged with sex offences by SA police, former Tasmanian archdeacon Lou Daniels and priests John Elliot and Garth Hawkins and former NSW society leader Simon Jacobs.

The Adelaide diocese of the Anglican Church has paid out about $4 million in compensation to around 40 of Brandenburg’s abuse victims and completely revamped its systems and processes for dealing with allegations of abuse since 2004.

Witnesses at the hearing, which starts on Wednesday, will include a former Anglicare executive, some of Brandenburg’s victims from SA and one of the whistleblowers whose actions led to the Adelaide diocese in 2003 establishing a board of inquiry that condemned its handling of the allegations after victims reported their abuse at the hands of Brandenburg.

The report found the church had an uncaring, disbelieving attitude toward victims and was more concerned with the impact the allegations had on itself and its clergy. It led directly to the resignation of Dr George in June, 2004, after the Diocesan Council and Professional Standards Committee lost confidence in him.

A Brandenburg victim who was sexually abused in the 1960s and ignored by the church in 1992 and 1999 when he reported the abuse said he believed detailing “the truth about the past is important’’.

“I am not naive enough to believe the whole truth will come out, but hopefully layers of the onion are peeled back,’’ the man, who declined to be identified, said.

Anglican Archbishop Jeffrey Driver said the diocese welcomed the Royal Commission and was “committed’’ to supporting its work.

He said the matters the commission was considering were “tragic and painful’’ and he acknowledged the “profound sense of betrayal experienced by the victims of abuse, particularly where that abuse has been perpetrated by people holding a position of care or holy trust.’’

“In many past instances, the response of the church and its associated agencies to allegations of abuse, or to the needs of survivors, has not been adequate or timely. We are deeply sorry for that,’’ he said.