Survivors say the findings of misconduct against the former governor general Peter Hollingworth mean he should be stripped of his $357,000-a-year pension and lucrative taxpayer-funded entitlements.
The Anglican church’s complaints process on Monday made multiple findings of misconduct against Hollingworth over his time as Brisbane archbishop in the 1990s, when he allowed two abusers, John Elliot and Donald Shearman, to remain in the church despite knowing they had sexually assaulted children.
Despite the misconduct findings, the church’s professional standards tribunal also recommended Hollingworth be kept on as a priest and that he was fit for ministry, provided he apologised and was reprimanded.
Survivors and advocacy groups – already incensed at the delayed, secretive Anglican complaints process – described the recommendations as a “whitewash”.
Hollingworth receives a $357,000-a-year pension, plus travel and office expenses, despite serving as governor general for less than two years.
Documents released under freedom of information show Hollingworth’s other office and travel expenses ranged between $286,712 and $315,538 a year between 2016-17 and 2020-21.
The Governor-General Act 1974 gives no power to strip entitlements from former governors general, but a bill currently before federal parliament, introduced by the Greens senator David Shoebridge, would allow for governments to remove allowances where the former officeholder has engaged in misconduct.
Only two survivors’ complaints were considered against Hollingworth by the church’s complaints body, Kooyoora.
Both survivors told the Guardian on Tuesday that they were fully supportive of the push for reform and for Hollingworth’s entitlements to be stripped.
Survivor Beth Heinrich said it was “ridiculous” that Hollingworth still received the lucrative pension and allowance.
Heinrich was abused by Donald Shearman and complained to the church while Hollingworth was archbishop. In 1995, Hollingworth permitted Shearman to retain his permission to officiate despite knowing he had sexually assaulted Heinrich.
Heinrich is planning to travel to Canberra to help build support for Shoebridge’s bill.
“If the church can’t do the right thing, let’s hope the politicians can,” she told the Guardian.
The second survivor to complain to Kooyoora, who is anonymous , said he fully supported the reform push.
He is also urging the current Anglican archbishop for Melbourne, Philip Freier, not to accept the tribunal’s recommendations due to the deeply flawed process.
The survivor told the Guardian that he had not heard from anyone from Kooyoora for two years during the investigation of his complaint. The church body failed to tell him when hearings were happening and then denied him access to the hearing room due to an apparent lack of space, he said.
“I call on Archbishop Freier to not accept this flawed tribunal’s flawed recommendations,” the survivor said. “He should not grant Hollingworth any permission to officiate as a priest. Using his authority to do the right thing would go some way towards matching the moral and ethical standards of the broader Australian society.”
The survivor was abused by lay preacher John Elliot. Elliot later admitted abusing boys , and a psychiatrist told Hollingworth that Elliot was “a paedophile and that his personality type was untreatable”.
Hollingworth did not remove him from the church and allowed him to continue as rector of Dalby until he retired five years later.
Survivor and advocate Steve Fisher, the chief executive of Beyond Abuse, wrote to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, last year urging reform, but the government was yet to outline its position.
Hollingworth declined to comment.
In a statement on Monday, Hollingworth said the complaints process had been “long and painful for everyone involved”.
“I made mistakes and I cannot undo them,” Hollingworth said. “But I committed no crimes. There is no evidence that there was any abuse because of any decisions I made, or did not make.”
He said that “hardly a day passed” when he did not reflect on his failings.
“I had devoted my life to social justice, pastoral care and healing but I had little experience in dealing with the child abuse issues,” he said. “Like other church leaders, I was unduly influenced by the advice of lawyers and insurance companies.”
Hollingworth is not accused of abuse himself.
