AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
Joanne McCarthy
6 Apr 2017
FORMER Newcastle Anglican Bishop Roger Herft’s response to child sexual abuse allegations was “weak, ineffectual and showed no regard for the need to protect children from the risk that they would be preyed upon,” counsel assisting the royal commission has found in a final submission.
“It was a failure of leadership,” said counsel assisting Naomi Sharp, in a 276-page submission released on Thursday.
Ms Sharp named defrocked former Dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence, business manager Peter Mitchell, diocese solicitor and trustee Keith Allen and diocesan deputy chancellor Paul Rosser, QC, as part of a “network of long term diocesan ‘insiders’” during Bishop Herft’s tenure from 1993 to 2005.
They “worked together to frustrate efforts by other leaders, including the bishop, to deal with the sexual abuse of children by priests and others within the diocese”, Ms Sharp said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.