Peter Hollingworth’s $375,000 pension set to stay

Former governor-general Peter Hollingworth’s $375,000 annual pension is safe despite mishandling of child sex abuse issue.

Former governor-general Peter Hollingworth. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Former governor-general Peter Hollingworth’s $375,000-a-year pension appears safe after a Labor-dominated Senate committee questioned proposed laws to punish serious misconduct in office.

The committee rejected the bid to punish wayward governors-general on the grounds the proposed laws failed to adequately ­define serious misconduct, were retrospective and backed only one house of parliament ratifying the move. The move is despite the Anglican Church submitting that the review of entitlements regarding the recipient’s probity was good public policy.

The Senate’s finance and public administration legislation committee report noted the church did not explicitly support the bill but argued the review of entitlements to ensure the recipient’s probity had merit. However, the report said former solicitor-general Gavan Griffith KC had argued the bill offended every principal of legislative propriety and fairness.

The committee found the bill as presented may be unconstitutional and did not provide a satisfactory mechanism for testing the allegations of misconduct ­levelled as a former governor-general. “The committee considers that the risks of passing a bill that potentially violates key principles of the Constitution and fundamental principles of the rule of law upon which the Australian legal and political systems are founded is too great,’’ it said. “Such a decision would set a precedent that the parliament should not make.’’

Dr Hollingworth, 88, was never an abuser but was found to have failed to do enough to deal with ­offending when archbishop of Brisbane before becoming governor-general.

He was found multiple times to have failed to deal with the crisis in the church, including to have ­enabled notorious offenders to remain in positions of responsibility.

Victims of abuse have argued Dr Hollingworth should no longer receive taxpayer-funded support.

In a dissenting report to the committee, the Greens argued the bill would help remedy anomalies caused by the law.

There are six former governors-general receiving handsome retirement benefits.

“No public office should be without accountability and no public payment should be made on a no-strings-attached basis,’’ said Greens senator David Shoebridge.

“For too long the position of governor-general, and the payments to past governors-general, have failed these basic tests.”

The push to punish Dr Hollingworth has been potentially embarrassing for the Albanese government, which, along with the church, has been pressed by victims wanting justice but also the punishment of Dr Hollingworth.

Beth Heinrich, one of the survivors most impacted by Dr Hollingworth, told the committee: “My meagre age pension is reviewable. I am required to meet the criteria to be eligible. The generous governor-general entitlement has nothing to do with the Constitution; it was put in place by an act of parliament in 1974. It’s time for it to be updated by being amended to ­reflect accountability in the public interest.’’

Senator Shoebridge lamented that high-profile campaigner Hetty Johnston had not been listened to before Dr Hollingworth was appointed. “If only there had been there had been a transparent process for the appointment of governors-general,’’ he said.

The committee findings come amid soul searching in the Anglican Church over Dr Hollingworth’s term during the 1990s in Queensland. After leaving Brisbane, Dr Hollingworth became governor-general but his short stint in the position was ended amid an outcry over his public commentary and his legacy as an administrator in Queensland.