Peter Hollingworth

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The Rt Revd. Dr Peter Hollingworth AC OBE
23rd Governor General of Australia
In office 29 June 2001 – 28 May 2003
Preceded by	Sir William Deane
Succeeded by	Michael Jeffery
Born	April 10, 1935 Adelaide, South Australia
Profession	Bishop
Religion	Anglican (Christianity)

Peter Hollingworth AC OBE (born April 10, 1935), is an Australian Anglican bishop and was the 23rd Governor-General of Australia.

On 28 May 2003, he resigned his office as a result of criticism of his actions in an Anglican Church report. The report stated that he had mishandled an allegation of sexual abuse by an Anglican priest during his eleven year tenure as Archbishop of Brisbane.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Governor-General 3 Controversy over sexual abuse in the Brisbane Diocese 4 Hollingworth and Wikipedia 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Early life and career

Peter Hollingworth was born in Adelaide, South Australia before moving to Melbourne in 1940. After attending state primary schools, he was educated at Scotch College. After completing his secondary education he began work for BHP, an Australian mining company. Hollingworth apparently often spent his lunch hours in St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral, where the idea of becoming a priest was first suggested to him.

Conscripted for National Service in 1953, and after basic training at the RAAF Base, Point Cook, Hollingworth began work in the Chaplain's Office, after which he decided to test his vocation to the ministry. After matriculating in 1954 he enrolled at the University of Melbourne, residing at Trinity College (University of Melbourne), as a member of its School of Theology, graduating in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Licentiate of Theology. Hollingworth was made deacon and then ordained priest, being appointed Priest in Charge of St Mary's, North Melbourne, in a group ministry within the Melbourne Diocesan Centre. In 1964, he joined the Brotherhood of St Laurence, an independent Anglican Welfare Organization, as Chaplain and Director of Youth and Children's Work, then as Director of Social Policy and Research. In 1990 he was appointed as Executive Director. He served with the Brotherhood for 25 years, and in that time was involved in many other associated community and welfare bodies.

In 1976 Hollingworth was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and in 1988 he became an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his work in church and community. As well as these secular honours, he was elected as a Canon of St Paul's Cathedral in 1980 and consecrated as Bishop in the Inner City in 1985. Prior to that time, he completed a Master of Arts in Social Work, and wrote several books about his work with the poor which became educational texts.

In December 1989, Hollingworth was elected Archbishop of Brisbane. During the 1990s, the Anglican Church in Queensland, along with most other churches around the world at the time, was confronted with various allegations of sexual misconduct. Hollingworth's handling of one of these issues as Archbishop of Brisbane would give rise to much controversy a decade later when he was Governor-General.

[edit] Governor-General

In May 2001, Prime Minister John Howard's nomination of Hollingworth as Governor-General of Australia was approved by Queen Elizabeth II. Following the announcement of his appointment, Hollingworth stated that although he retained his Holy Orders, as Governor-General he would not use the title "Bishop" knowing that some Australians might misunderstand it meaning and intent. He also announced that he would not wear clerical attire during the term of his office.

On 21 May 2001 Hollingworth was awarded the Lambeth degree of Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.Lambeth) by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey. Hollingworth was awarded the doctorate in recognition of his research, publications, teaching and achievement in the field of Christian social ethics, social welfare and Episcopal leadership. Although the Lambeth Doctorate does not require a thesis, it is not an honorary doctorate but a degree established by Royal Charter in the 16th century and awarded by successive Archbishops of Canterbury to those who were unable to attend university for the time demanded by a doctorate, but who had met the standard academic requirements. It is a substantive degree based on published works, and in keeping with Australian etiquette on non-medical doctoral qualifications, is noted with the style "Doctorate, or Dr.N." In addition, Hollingworth already had six honorary doctorates from Australian universities.

On 29 June 2001, Hollingworth was sworn-in as Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Force. The appointment of a clergyman, and specifically Hollingworth, as Governor-General attracted some negative media comment from the outset. Some claimed that Sir William Deane, his predecessor, had been popular with political opponents of the Howard government for his comments on social issues. Others pointed out that Hollingworth's previous record of working with the disadvantaged put him in a strong position to engage with Australian society across the spectrum of social need.

[edit] Controversy over sexual abuse in the Brisbane Diocese

In 2001 allegations emerged in a civil case that Hollingworth had failed to act with compassion when confronted with stories of child abuse at an Anglican school in Toowoomba, Queensland. In the case, the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane was ordered to pay a record $834,000 in damages to a former pupil who had suffered abuse at the school during 1990.

Following the case, in December 2001, the Courier-Mail newspaper reported calls from anti-child abuse campaigner Hetty Johnston for the resignation of Hollingworth as Governor-General.

On 14 December 2001 radio 612 ABC Brisbane broadcast a story which included an interview by psychologist and victim's advocate Joy Conolly also calling for Hollingworth to resign. Conolly had made a statement which was accepted without cross examination in the civil case and repeated her claim on national media that Hollingworth had done nothing when confronted with allegations of child abuse.

In the radio report Conolly recalled a long distance telephone conversation with Hollingworth in 1991 "'There's nothing I can do about it, absolutely nothing I can do about it', and I said 'Please can't you ring them and offer them some comfort', and he said 'I'm tired, I'm stressed, I need a holiday'." The report by Michael Lund was highly commended in the 2002 Walkley Awards for that year.

The Conolly allegation was later denied by Hollingworth who stated that he had made several attempts to contact the family from interstate without success.^[1] He also added that he was constrained by concerns over any pending legal action and a need to limit admissions based on concerns from the diocesan insurers who bore financial responsibility. He later said in a public statement "I am sorry that legal and insurance considerations to some extent inhibited our taking a more active role and more overtly expressing the Church's concern for the physical, emotional and spiritual welfare of those affected..."

On 17 February 2002 allegations that Hollingworth, as Archbishop of Brisbane, had in the early 1990's attempted to cover up several instances of sexual abuse, were then aired on the Channel Nine Sunday current affairs program in a story titled "Governor-General: Fit to Govern?".^[2]

Most of the allegations were about the handling of the case at Toowoomba Preparatory School where a staff member had abused at least two boarders and then taken his life. Hetty Johnston, leader of Bravehearts, an organisation supporting victims of child abuse, was instrumental in bringing the issues to the attention of the media, and was vociferous in criticising Hollingworth, again calling for his resignation.

The next day, Hollingworth appeared on the ABC's Australian Story television program and gave a lengthy interview in which he discussed the media criticisms and some of the cases mentioned, expressing his sympathy for the victims of abuse, discussing the restrictions that the legal situation and his responsibilities to the Diocese placed limits on his ability to publicly sympathise with the victims, and other personal pressures at the time.^[3] Most attention from the interview was directed at comments he made about one case when he was asked about a sexual relationship between a " bishop and a woman" dating back to earlier events in the mid 1950s when he was a young priest.

Hollingworth's two answers were edited and amalgamated as follows:

"The great tragedy about this situation is that the genesis of it was 40 years ago and it occurred between a young priest and a teenage girl who was under the age of consent. I believe she was more than 14. And I also understand that many years later in adult life, their relationship resumed and it was partly a pastoral relationship and it was partly something more." In answering the initial question referring to the later adult relationship he said " My belief is that this was not sex abuse. There was no suggestion of rape or anything like that. Quite the contrary, my information is that it was, rather, the other way around. And I don't want to say any more than that." However, once the two answers were amalgamated in this way the public damage was very serious.

This led to further public and media criticism of Hollingworth. The Melbourne newspaper The Age called for Hollingworth's resignation, and opinion polls indicated that a large majority of Australians agreed. Opposition Leader Simon Crean echoed these calls, citing Hollingworth's "serious errors of judgement" and referring to what he viewed as the lack of support for the Governor-General in the community and the damage that the controversy was causing to the office.

The situation was unprecedented in Australia: the removal of a Governor-General for reasons of personal conduct had not been contemplated in the past. Howard, who in practice had virtually sole discretion on the Governor-General's continued appointment, rejected calls for Hollingworth to be removed or resign. He said that he believed that while Hollingworth may have made "errors of judgement", he saw no evidence that he had been "soft on child abuse".

Meanwhile, Hollingworth's successor as Archbishop of Brisbane, Dr Phillip Aspinall, in one of his first acts as Archbishop, instituted an independent two-person inquiry into the diocese's handling of sexual abuse complaints. The enquiry examined the written records of the Church's actions, as well as seeking sworn statements from Hollingworth and other church officials. To allow the public release and discussion of the final report without risk of litigation, the Premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie, agreed to table the report under privilege of the Queensland Parliament in May 2003.

The report examined the handling of nine complaints of sexual abuse during Hollingworth's time as Archbishop. In the majority of cases, the board concluded that his actions were appropriate. On the Toowoomba case, the board found that Hollingworth's actions "could not be criticised", as he had been entitled to assume on the information available that the Headmaster and the School Council were handling the matter properly.

Hollingworth was however criticised by the second Board member Professor Briggs for his lack of expression of compassion towards the victim. In one case, where Hollingworth chose not to apologise on behalf of the church to the victim of abuse (the 14-year-old girl mentioned previously), Professor Briggs considered that "there must have been a way in which Dr Hollingworth could have provided some compassionate recognition of the wrong which the Complainant had suffered."

The handling of another complaint, one that had not attracted much media attention until the report was released, contained a more serious criticism of Hollingworth's actions. In this case, John Elliot, a church worker who later became a priest, had sexually abused two brothers. Hollingworth interviewed Elliot, who confessed to the offences. After referring him to a psychiatrist, and discussing the matter with the other bishops, Hollingworth allowed Elliot to continue in the ministry until eligible for retirement in three years time, under the condition that he avoid situations dealing with children and young people,work in the company of his wife wherever possible and report to him as Archbishop regularly.

In this case, the board made very serious criticisms of Hollingworth, stating that he had "apparently reconstructed what he believed he was told, rather than recalled what in fact was said", and that "even if the abuse had been an isolated incident", that "no Bishop acting responsibly could have reached the decision to continue a known paedophile in the ministry". It further described Hollingworth's decision, whilst "made in good faith", as "untenable."

The reaction to the release of the report was another round of denunciation of Hollingworth in the media. While some commentators said that Hollingworth was being subjected to a witch-hunt, most newspapers called for his resignation. Several ministers in the Howard government suggested that the Hollingworth should "follow his own conscience," suggesting that they wanted him to resign.

Meanwhile, in December 2002, a civil suit had been lodged in the Victorian Supreme Court by Rosemary Ann Jarmyn seeking compensation from Hollingworth, two Victorian Dioceses and the Victorian State Government. Jarmyn claimed that she had been raped at a church youth camp in either Ballarat or Bendigo in the early 1960s by a man she later identified as Hollingworth, from a photograph of him taken around that time in a Brotherhood of St Laurence newsletter. Jarmyn sought, and obtained, a suppression order on the case, with Hollingworth's concurrence due to her psychological condition. Hollingworth told Howard of the allegation at the time, as Howard later confirmed. Rosemary Jarmyn committed suicide in April 2003, but the case went on with her family as plaintiffs.

The case became public knowledge when an Opposition politician, Lindsay Tanner, under parliamentary Privilege asked in Parliament whether there were any civil cases pending against the Governor-General. Hollingworth then made a public statement saying that he had never raped anyone, he had never heard of Jarmyn, and had not been at any youth camp in Bendigo or elsewhere at that time and knew nothing of her allegation. This was clearly a case of mistaken identity which her lawyers had never properly investigated before encouraging her to proceed. In the face of specific denials of Hollingworth and several key witnesses, the matter was thrown out and the family eventually dropped the case. This meant that Hollingworth who had already stood aside on May 11th, now had no means either of clearing his name or returning to office with any confidence of public acceptance.

The senior state Governor, Sir Guy Green of Tasmania, became Administrator (acting Governor-General) of the Commonwealth until a new Governor-General could be appointed. After leaving office on May 28th Hollingworth returned to Melbourne to take up several appointments in community and welfare bodies, and voluntary pastoral work with the Anglican Church. He retains a Permission to Officiate in retirement from the Archbishop of Melbourne and regularly preaches and takes services.

[edit] Hollingworth and Wikipedia

On 22 March 2007, Hollingworth rang the ABC Radio National program, Australia Talks and was introduced live on air as 'Peter from Malvern', asked Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and the guest on the program:

I have a particular question and I am very glad that Jimmy Wales is there. It is related to the biographical entries – I would just be interested to know how all of those things are managed because to speak personally on it. I found an entry on me at one stage which I found offensive and inaccurate and it had been put on there by someone I had never heard of and I purely by accident found it when someone else told me that I should check it out. Now I fully support the whole idea of the democratisation of knowledge that’s the best thing we can do for everybody – but there is still – is the question how you balance this out with truth and accuracy. Now in this particular case I think the problem arose because the person who put the entry in simply took the information from various newspapers who had got it wrong in the first place so you have one falsehood being reinforced by another and another – and I am just wondering and a question to Jimmy Wales is – do you have any responsibility for that and what would you do for example if somebody decided to sue you for libel?^[4][5]

The presenter, Paul Barclay, asked him if he was Peter Hollingworth, having been told by his producer who it was. Hollingworth affirmed this and then Barclay clarified to Wales that the caller was the former Governor-General of Australia. Wales indicated that Wikipedia had never been sued and that it was very careful to ensure that all biographies of living people were accurate.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The report by the Board of Inquiry

Government offices
Preceded by Sir William Deane	Governor-General of Australia 2001–2003	Succeeded by Michael Jeffery
Other Offices
Preceded by Fred Hollows	Australian of the Year 1991	Succeeded by Mandawuy Yunupingu

Governors-General of Australia
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