AUSTRALIA
The West Australian
Phoebe Wearne, Newcastle – The West Australian on August 13, 2016
Perth’s Anglican Archbishop Roger Herft has told a royal commission that he struggles “to find an answer” for failing to act on warnings about a notorious paedophile priest abusing at least one boy in his diocese.
Archbishop Herft gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday, focusing on his level of knowledge of historic claims of child sexual abuse during his time as Bishop of Newcastle between May 1993 and February 2005.
Asked by counsel assisting the royal commission Naomi Sharp if he dropped the ball with serial abuser Father Peter Rushton, Archbishop Herft said he “should have acted more effectively” but did not.
“I don’t know whether ‘dropped the ball’ is an adequate phrase,” Archbishop Herft said.
“I’ve 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 struggle to find an answer for that.”
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