AUSTRALIA
Northern Star
Jessica Grewal 26th Nov 2013
A PRIEST convicted of sexually abusing a former resident of Lismore’s North Coast Children’s Home has yet to be disciplined by the Anglican Church and remains a leader of the Newcastle Diocese, the royal commission has heard.
Giving evidence on Tuesday afternoon, a clearly disenchanted Michael Elliott, Professional Standards Director for the Grafton and Newcastle Diocese, conceded that despite his urgings for safeguards to be put in place “no steps have been taken to adopt practices with respect to those convicted of child sex abuse”.
He said that as recently as “a few weeks ago” the Newcastle Diocese had adopted “safe ministry practises” protocol for clergy members but that the changes had not yet been applied to anyone, including Rev Allan Kitchingman, a former Lismore priest who was convicted and jailed in 2003 over the indecent assault of a teenage boy in the 1980s.
He also confirmed that due to administration issues, none of the people accused of abusing children at the home had been listed on a national sex offenders register.
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