AUSTRALIA
612 ABC
Sunday, 10 July 2005. 08:23 (AEST)Sunday, 10 July 2005. 08:23 (ACST)Sunday, 10 July 2005. 09:23 (AEDT)Sunday, 10 July 2005. 06:23 (AWST)
Advocates for the victims of child abuse say they are surprised the Anglican Church has appointed the Archbishop of Brisbane as its new head.
In 2003, the Hobart-born Archbishop Phillip Aspinall vigorously rejected an allegation he had arranged for a young Tasmanian man to share a bed with a priest in the 1980s.
Police have never pursued the allegation, relating to the time Archbishop Aspinall was a church youth group leader.
But Steve Fisher of Survivors Investigating Child Sexual Abuse questions his suitability to be the church's new head.
"The elevation of Dr Aspinall says the church really still, to a certain degree, have their heads in the sand," he said.