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Two letters have been sent to Senate president John Hogg about Senator Xenophon’s naming of Msgr Ian Dempsey under Parliamentary privilege. A Senate committee will consider the complaints.
One of the letters was from Msgr Dempsey and the other from civil libertarian Terry O’Gorman who is urging an investigation into the naming of the priest, describing it as an abuse of privilege.
He has told The Advertiser he believed in a “thorough and fair process”.
“As a member of the Senate I should be subject to the scrutiny of the Senate along with every other member,” he said.
Senator Hogg can decide whether an inquiry should be established by the privileges committee.
The committee can also consider a request for a person who has been named in Parliament to have a right of reply, where their response is included in Hansard.
Monsignor Dempsey has comprehensively rejected the allegation of rape. He said in a letter to Senator Xenophon responding to the claim “I am innocent of these allegations which you used parliamentary privilege to name me”.
“For over forty years I have served with integrity and honour as a Catholic priest … you irreparably smeared and denigrated my reputation.”
Archbishop John Hepworth, the leader of a breakaway Anglican group seeking union with the Catholic Church, alleged that Monsignor Dempsey raped him more than 40 years ago when the two were young priests in their twenties.
He went public in the past fortnight with his claims, alleging that the Adelaide archdiocese of the Catholic Church failed to swiftly resolve the case. In the Senate last Tuesday night, Senator Xenophon named Monsignor Dempsey and criticised the Adelaide archdiocese of the Catholic Church in its handling of the allegations.
Full Article and image: Adelaide Now
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