Overseas News

Australian media chide Howard, question steps to appointing Queen's man

Australian Prime Minister John Howard

Australian Governor-General Peter Hollingworth

SYDNEY (AFP) ­ Australian newspapers said Monday, 26 May the resignation of the governor-general solved a messy problem for Prime Minister John Howard, but left the conservative politician facing another dilemma in picking a successor.

They also blamed Howard for appointing the cleric to the post in the first place and then for not acting more swifty in urging him to quit once it became known he allowed a paedophile priest to continue in the church.

Peter Hollingworth, the former Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, resigned Sunday, 25 May following intensifying calls for his exit.

Earlier this month a church inquiry found he had allowed a priest to continue in the church after confessing he had abused two young brothers.

A woman, now deceased, accused Hollingworth of raping her at a church camp in the 1960's. Last week, her family withdrew plans to pursue Hollingworth through the courts.

The Sydney Morning Herald pointed the finger at the prime minister twice on its front page: "John Howard is to blame for this disaster... This was John Howard's mistake - no one else's".

The Australian newspaper in its editorial chimed in: "Mr Howard has been a teflon prime minister lately ... but there are serious questions about his own judgement, too, in appointing a governor-general who, within 10 months of being sworn in, was mired in accusations that he mishandled sex-abuse cases in the church."

The fact that Howard strongly backs Australia's ties to the British monarch was not lost on the newspapers.
"... as Australia's leading defender of the monarchy and the existing constitution, John Howard must now act decisively to undo the damage done by the Hollingworth appointment and restore confidence in the system," the Sydney Morning Herald said.

Hollingworth's decision to resign saved Howard from having to sack him - "a huge leap into the constitutional unknown. But now Howard is left with the problem of a severely damaged vice-regal institution".

"At the very least it leaves the process of selecting the holder of the vice-regal office exposed as deeply flawed and needing urgent reform.

"More fundamentally it raises legitimate questions about the office itself and the role it plays in contemporary Australia."

Hollingworth's judgment was also called in to question and he was accused of not recognising the extent
of the problem of child abuse within the church.

"...on the issue of the sexual abuse of children, he still doesn't 'get it'," said The Australian.

"...when asked to represent Australia, and Australians themselves, in the new millennium, (he) seemed unable to shake himself free of attitudes that most of us now associate with the 1950s."

While resigning, Hollingworth maintained his innocence, describing allegations against him as "misplaced and unwarranted".

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