AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
IAN KIRKWOOD
11 Aug 2016
THE director of the Newcastle diocese’s professional standards unit has told the commission of threats against him and about the support that the defrocked dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence, received from people in high places.
Asked about what “risk management strategies” the church had put in place in relation to Graeme Lawrence, Greg Goyette and Graeme Sturt, Mr Elliott confirmed that Lawrence and Sturt continued to worship at the Adamstown parish under Reverend Chris Bird, after Lawrence had been deposed from holy orders and Sturt suspended for five years.
Mr Elliott confirmed that Bishop Brian Farran wrote to Reverend Bird on September 17, 2012, about the issue, but that no formal risk management was put in place until November 14, 2014.
He said he made “significant efforts to ensure that there was risk management put in place”. He said Reverend Bird “did not want to co-operate and did not appear to be taking [the issue] seriously”.
At this point, Mr Elliott was asked about his assertion that “a core group of people . . . were linked to, and supporters of, a number of abusers within the church”.
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