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Anglican Archbishop of Perth Admits He Knew of Abuse in Newcastle Diocese

By Anne Connolly
ABC - 7.30
August 12, 2016

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2016/s4518868.htm

One of Australia's most senior Anglicans has admitted he didn't act on complaints of sex abuse within the Newcastle diocese, which he led for more than a decade. Roger Herft said he regretted he had not been more alert to what was going on.

Transcript

MATT WORDSWORTH, PRESENTER: One of Australia's most senior Anglicans today admitted he didn't act on complaints about sex abuses within the diocese he led for more than a decade.

It comes after 7:30 revealed last month that a senior priest, Father Peter Rushton, led a paedophile network in the Hunter region for years. The focus of today's Royal Commission hearings was Roger Herft, now the Archbishop of Perth.

Anne Connolly has been following the stories of the victims whose lives have been destroyed by the dark deeds within the church.

And a warning: this story contains material that may distress some viewers.

(Footage of Paul Grey giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse)

PAUL GREY (sobbing): I was chased by two men... to the edge of the cliff and I hid in the bushes. After a while, I was dragged from the bushes. I was raped by the two men. And while I was being raped, I could hear another boy screaming.

(Footage ends)

ANNE CONNOLLY, REPORTER: Paul Grey is describing the horror he experienced as a victim of an Anglican paedophile network. The ringleader was his godfather, Father Peter Rushton, one of Newcastle's most powerful Anglican priests.

(Footage of Paul Grey giving evidence)

PAUL GREY: Father Peter would cut my back with a small knife and smear my blood on my back. And I would like to add there that that was actually symbolic of the blood of Christ.

(Footage ends)

ANNE CONNOLLY: The Royal Commission hearing in Newcastle is trying to determine what the church hierarchy knew about what Rushton was doing.

NAOMI SHARP, COUNSEL ASSISTING THE COMMISSION: What do you say to that?

RICHARD APPLEBY, RETIRED BISHOP: I... I... Again, I have got no - the, the - that... I cannot... No understanding of that, recollection of that.

ANNE CONNOLLY: Despite Rushton's prolific abuse over 40 years, successive bishops told the hearing they knew nothing about his activities.

ALFRED HOLLAND, RETIRED BISHOP: I have no memory of that.

PAUL GREY: I am just getting angrier and angrier, the longer it goes on. And there's something wrong with them because they just can't remember anything. I mean, what's wrong with these people?

ANNE CONNOLLY: Today, one of the Anglican Church's most senior leaders was called to answer.

(Footage of Roger Herft being sworn in)

ROGER HERFT, ARCHBISHOP OF PERTH: ...to tell the truth...

PETER MCCLELLAN, JUSTICE, CHAIR OF COMMISSION: ...the whole truth...

ROGER HERFT: ...the whole truth...

PETER MCCLELLAN: ...and nothing but the truth.

ROGER HERFT: ...and nothing but the truth.

PETER MCCLELLAN: Yes, thank you. Take a seat.

ANNE CONNOLLY (voiceover): Roger Herft, now the Archbishop of Perth, was the bishop of Newcastle for over a decade during Rushton's time. Counsel assisting interrogated the Archbishop over his lack of action, when he was warned many times about Rushton's sexual abuse.

NAOMI SHARP: You were also made aware of allegations that one of the most senior priests in the diocese for many years, Peter Rushton, had sexually abused children. Correct?

ROGER HERFT: The - there were allegations about that, yes.

NAOMI SHARP: That you were made aware of?

ROGER HERFT: Yes.

NAOMI SHARP: Didn't you think by about this time you had a pretty serious problem on your hands with child sexual abuse within your diocese?

ROGER HERFT: As I said, ma'am, it was insidious in the sense that one couldn't get to the bottom of what was happening.

And I looked back every day to ask myself the question: how did I miss this?

NAOMI SHARP: Well, how did you miss this?

ROGER HERFT: I have no idea, ma'am.

ANNE CONNOLLY: Last month, survivors toll 7:30 how Peter Rushton was involved in two paedophile rings: one at a boys' youth group, another at a local orphanage at Aberdare in the Hunter Valley.

PAUL GREY: The worst part, with all the abuse that Father Peter did with me, was: he actually took me to the boys' home in Aberdare, which is only a little way from where I lived, and he left me there with three men. (Upset) And... I remember calling out to him to not leave me there. And he did. And I was taken there many, many times.

PHIL D'AMMOND: Father Peter Rushton had... infiltrated the boys' home: is the way I put it.

ANNE CONNOLLY: Church insider Michael Elliott, who also testified at the royal commission, revealed how the church had failed to act on reports about Peter Rushton.

MICHAEL ELLIOT, ANGLICAN SEX ABUSE COMPLAINTS UNIT: There is evidence that there was an awareness of Rushton's offending. It had been brought to the attention of various bishops on a number of occasions.

ANNE CONNOLLY: Peter Rushton died in 2007 a free man, having never been reported to police. Archbishop Herft is the first of Newcastle's former bishops to admit he didn't do enough to stop Rushton.

ROGER HERFT: ...what has happened. I have asked myself a number of times: why was I not more alert? Why weren't the people around me more alert? Why weren't the other archdeacons outside of the particular group that we have spoken about more alert? And I... I struggle to find an answer for that. But I agree with you that, at that particular point of time, I should have acted more effectively and well and I did not.

ANNE CONNOLLY: Despite sex abuse complaints about several priests, Archbishop Herft said he did nothing because their victims had not complained in writing.

PETER MCCLELLAN: What was the position? If the allegation was sexual abuse of a child - someone under 18 - did you require a formal, written complaint before the diocese would react in any way at all?

ROGER HERFT: I think that would be the position, your honour. Yes.

PETER MCCLELLAN: Well, that's the point, isn't it? That leaves children at risk.

ROGER HERFT: Yes.

PETER MCCLELLAN: Now, do you think that was acceptable?

ROGER HERFT: Totally unacceptable.

ANNE CONNOLLY: For this survivor, the Archbishop's evidence was too much to bear.

PAUL GREY: I had to leave twice, because twice... This guy has no compassion for children. None. He doesn't understand what it is like to be a child, even, I don't think - let alone a child that's been abused.

I mean, this case is all about paedophiles. He's no better than a paedophile. He allowed this to happen.

MATT WORDSWORTH: Anne Connolly reporting.

 

 

 

 

 




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