Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:51:03) — My constituency question is for the Minister for Police. My constituent is a father of young daughters and is concerned around the protection provided to his children by the working with children checks and certificates. He points to Victorian Bishop Peter Hollingworth as an example. He stated to me that the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard evidence that Bishop Hollingworth allowed confirmed paedophile John Elliot to continue in his role as rector at Dalby, and rape was also alleged against him.
Bishop Hollingworth had to stand down as Governor-General and as a patron of Barnardos, the Kids First Foundation and the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, but he has been permitted by the Anglican diocese of Melbourne to continue working as a minister. It is a requirement that church ministers hold working with children certificates. My constituent asks: how can the minister assure him that the working with children check process is protecting his daughters if it is the case that someone with Hollingworth’s history is granted such a certificate?
