Churches will review conflict of interest rules after Hillsong abuse revelation

AAP, Australia/October 17, 2014

The involvement of Hillsong pastor Brian Houston in handling abuse allegations against his father is one reason the Pentecostal movement will review its conflict of interest rules, an inquiry has heard.

Wayne Alcorn, the national president of the Australian Christian Churches (ACC) group that represents 1000 affiliated churches, said today the conflict of interest rules only covered financial matters not familial.

He was giving evidence at the end of a two-week hearing in which the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse looked at three cases of child abuse in Pentecostal institutions.

In two of these cases, there was a familial conflict of interest.

In the first case, well-known Hillsong church senior pastor Brian Houston, who was then president of the ACC, handled complaints against his father Frank Houston.

Mr Alcorn was asked by counsel assisting the commission Simeon Beckett if he would accept there was a conflict between Pastor Houston's role as the son of the abuser, and his position as president of the ACC, which was then known as Assemblies of God.

"I would agree that on the face of it that is how it appears", Mr Alcorn said.

"I would also like to say as someone who was in the room when that matter was dealt with that from the moment Brian Houston brought that to the national body he was disengaged ... in no way did he guide the discussion or the outcome."

He described the Hillsong pastor as a man of great integrity.

Mr Alcorn agreed minutes of a meeting called by Brian Houston on December 22, 1999, when he told the executive of his father's admission of pedophilia, did record Frank Houston was suspended for two years and not permanently dismissed as he should have been under the rules.

He said now the ACC would act differently now and that familial conflict of interest would be reviewed at a national conference.

In the last case study, the commission heard that a senior pastor at a church in Queensland had not responded to complaints his son-in-law, youth pastor Jonathan Baldwin, was acting inappropriately with a 13-year-old boy.

Baldwin was jailed in 2009 for eight years for sexually abusing the boy.

Queensland ACC president John Hunt said it was up to the pastor in charge to decide who was hired and said it was not unusual Baldwin was not credentialled when he had the title of Youth Pastor.

Meanwhile, a senior police officer at the centre of hearings into the force's relationship with the Catholic Church has broken down in tears while defending the practice of "blind reporting" sex abuse.

But Inspector Elizabeth Cullen told the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) it was not her role to make direct reports to her superiors at the child protection squad about incidents of abuse being handled by the church's Professional Standards Office (PSO).

Counsel assisting, Kristina Stern, on Friday asked Insp Cullen if sex abuse victims whose cases were brought before the PSO should have been encouraged to talk to police so they could make an informed choice about making a criminal complaint.

"There was an over-arching factor that their wishes be respected," she said, referring to abuse sufferers who requested privacy while detailing allegations.

Insp Cullen started to cry.

"What right do we have to presume that they can't make an informed choice on their own," she said.

Insp Cullen, a police officer for 28 years, was a member of the Professional Standards Resources Group (PSRG) between 1999 and 2005, a body that supported the PSO in its role.

Using a system called "blind reporting", the information about abuse incidents would be given to police without victims' details.

In some cases, the blind report said the victim did not want police involvement when in fact they did.

Insp Cullen, who attended the PSRG meetings on a monthly basis, said she didn't see it as her role to be a conduit of information to police.

Insp Cullen prepared the pro-forma "blind reporting" forms that were used by the PSO to pass information to police.

But she told the inquiry she was never present when a complaint was taken down.

Ms Stern asked whether as a police officer she should have taken steps to ensure all information was being given about cases, Insp Cullen replied: "No. I don't think so.

"It was my understanding that information was given to police on all relevant matters."

Insp Cullen was shown details of a 2001 case seen by the PSRG that contained information about a serial sex offender.

Asked if she advised the group that more details should be given to police, she replied that just because the PSRG meeting minutes did not reflect her advice, it didn't mean it wasn't given.

The process of blind reporting worked, she said, and it wasn't sensible for her to assess every piece of information brought before the PSRG.

If she had information that should be given to police, Insp Cullen said she would advise PSO members, Michael Salmon and John Davoren.

"(Mr Davoren) was a man of integrity and so when he said certain things were being done, I had no reason to believe they weren't," Insp Cullen said.

The public hearings concluded on Friday.

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