Priest Wants Xenophon to Apologise

By Verity Edwards
The Australian
June 24, 2013

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/priest-wants-xenophon-to-apologise/story-fn59niix-1226668477305

AN Adelaide priest who says he was wrongly named by Nick Xenophon in federal parliament as a perpetrator of sexual abuse wants Senate President John Hogg to discipline his fellow senator and is calling for parliamentary privilege to be reviewed.

Senator Xenophon used parliamentary privilege in September 2011 to name Monsignor Ian Dempsey as one of three priests who allegedly abused former head of the Traditional Anglican Communion, John Hepworth, in a Catholic seminary in the 1960s.

The South Australian Director of Public Prosecutions recommended earlier this month that no abuse charges be laid against Monsignor Dempsey, after a 19-month investigation found there was insufficient evidence for a jury to have a reasonable chance of convicting.

Monsignor Dempsey has written a letter to Senator Hogg, expected to arrive today, asking him to address the use of parliamentary privilege to name a person without accountability.

"As well as reasonably expecting a public apology from Senator Xenophon, it may be time for the Senate to address the unique privilege of naming any Australian citizen without any accountability -- and, as in my case, getting it terribly wrong," Monsignor Dempsey wrote.