Anglican Archbishop Roger Herft ‘told of abuse priest’, by Dan Box, Australian (August 24, 2016)

The Anglican Archbishop of Perth was allegedly told a senior priest was a sexual predator, including of children, on at least three occasions, documents tendered to a royal commission reveal, although his evidence says he “cannot recall” this happening at the time.

The priest in question, Graeme Lawrence, was dean of Newcastle Cathedral during the 1990s when Archbishop Roger Herft was bishop of the NSW diocese.

Mr Lawrence, whom the commission has heard was part of a “Gang of Three” that protected a serial pedophile priest, was subsequently defrocked after having group sex with a teenage boy.

Archbishop Herft and Mr Lawrence are to face cross-examination before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse next week.

“To the best of my knowledge, I cannot recall the dean’s name being connected to child abuse within my time as bishop,” Archbishop Herft said in a witness statement tendered to the commission and released yesterday.

This contrasts with evidence from another witness, Robert Wall, who told the commission he met then Bishop Herft in about 1994-95 to report allegations from two boys who “told us they had been sexually interfered with by Father Graeme Lawrence”.

In a second witness statement tendered to the commission, Archbishop Herft said he had no memory of this conversation, although his diary shows a meeting did take place on July 10, 1995.

An unsigned letter from Archbishop Herft to Mr Wall, dated three days later and tendered to the commission, states: “I have raised your particular concern with the priest against whom the allegations were made and he has clearly informed me that as far as he is concerned, he is not aware of any indiscretion.” Former archbishop of Sydney Richard “Harry” Goodhew has also given a witness statement to the commission, saying he “became aware of allegations … that Graeme Lawrence had been engaging in sexual activity with young boys” in late 1996.

In his note of a telephone conversation discussing these allegations the following year, he recorded “I had spoken with Bp Herft. The Bp had indicated that he would like the people concerned to make contact with him.

“Bp has already talked to (Mr Lawrence), who has denied any wrongdoing in the past.”

Another retired Anglican bishop, Bruce Clark, said in a statement he received an anonymous call in the late 1990s “that Graeme Lawrence was a sexual abuser,” although there was no specific reference to child abuse.

“I telephoned Bishop Roger Herft … (who) undertook to follow up on the allegations, and informed me … that he had approached Graeme Lawrence, who had denied them.”

In his second statement, Archbishop Herft said: “I have no recollection of this conversation, or ever receiving any correspondence from Bishop Clark about such an allegation against Graeme Lawrence.”

In 2010, Archbishop Herft wrote to internal church investigators saying he had no memory of child abuse allegations being made against Mr Lawrence, documents to the commission reveal.