Hillsong Pastor Tells Why He Didn’t Tell Inquiry of Legal Meeting

The Australian
October 11, 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/hillsong-pastor-tells-why-he-didnt-tell-inquiry-of-legal-meeting/story-fngburq5-1227086936557

HILLSONG senior pastor Brian Houston consulted a lawyer about his father’s position when abuse allegations were raised but didn’t mention that meeting in his statement to the royal commission into the matter.

The man who is a leading light in the evangelical movement in Australia was in the witness box for a second day at a hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney yesterday.

The commission is examining how Pentecostal churches responded to complaints of child sex abuse by its pastors.

It has heard that Frank Houston admitted in 1999 to abusing children in Australia and New Zealand, when his son was national president of the Assemblies of God in Australia, the umbrella organisation for more than 1000 churches. Frank Houston died in 2004, aged 82.

It has emerged in evidence that Brian Houston consulted a lawyer at prominent firm Mallesons about his father’s position. Mr Houston said: “Where I went as my father’s son to go to see a lawyer about my father — this commission is about institutional child abuse so in that sense, I don’t see that it was particularly relevant that I went to see a lawyer. It was something that was between a father and son.”

He also said his statement had not mentioned a $10,000 payment to a victim known as AHA because he remembered it only when he read AHA’s statement to the commission.

The commission has heard Frank Houston met with AHA in a McDonald’s restaurant and offered him $10,000. In his evidence on Tuesday, AHA said that when he did not receive the cheque he rang Brian Houston.

Brian Houston repeated on Friday that he remembered feeling frustrated that his father had not followed up on his promise and had spoken to family members about it; one of them arranged the payment. He denied deliberately omitting it from his statement, saying if that had been so, he would not have brought it up in evidence.

During cross-examination yesterday, he again denied a conflict of interest over the fact that he, as national president of the body representing Pentecostal churches and as senior pastor at the church where his father preached, had also dealt with the allegations.