Archbishop Philip Freier
1 June 2024
Welcome to this special session of the 54th Synod of the Diocese of Melbourne.
We meet on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation during National Reconciliation Week. Some who are joining online will also be joining from Wurundjeri land while others from the lands of the traditional owners of your particular locality. Together we can respect this continuing connection and custodianship for land and water. We give thanks for ancestral knowledge and thank God for the ongoing right and responsibility of elders to care for Country. Let us commit ourselves to work and pray towards a more just settlement for all Indigenous people and respect First Nations people amongst us.
The timing of this special Synod was intended to allow for the synchronisation of the Professional Standards legislation between Bendigo and Melbourne dioceses and to consider the implications of the CCYP or Commission for Children and Young People’s assessment report on our compliance with the Child Safe Standards.
As background, on 23 February 2023, CCYP commenced a targeted assessment of the Diocese’s compliance with the Victorian Child Safe Standards through a review of safe ministry arrangements. CCYP’s assessment focussed on the Diocese’s management of complaints raised about Bishops, specifically compliance with:
Standard 2 concerning child safety and wellbeing being embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture, and Standard 7 concerning processes for complaints and concerns being child focused.
CCYP found the “Diocese has a broad range of policies and procedures that support their implementation of the Child Safe Standards and that appears to demonstrate a commitment to child safety and wellbeing”. However, CCYP also recommended improvements in the areas of overseeing our complaints process, timely updates to our child safety arrangements, our screening arrangements and child safety training for members of our governance bodies.
We received the CCYP response to these February 2023 enquiries on 27 May 2024. It has not been possible to incorporate this material in our Synod business on account of that tight time frame.
The Diocese will closely study the CCYP recommendations in association with Kooyoora and the Safe Ministry Reference Group chaired by Bishop Genieve Blackwell and intends to provide CCYP with a response by their requested date of 24 July 2024.
Read more: Synod canons implement Royal Commission recommendations
More generally I would like to draw your attention to Child Safe Standard 1 which states that “Organisations establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse
and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued.”
This Child Safe Standard encourages the development of systems and dialogue at a parish level that resonate with the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s desire to improve understanding and relationships with First Nations people.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission is a Victorian Royal Commission, established in May 2021 by the State of Victoria and the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria under the Inquiries Act 2014 (Vic) (Inquiries Act).
The Yoorrook Commission will establish an official public record of the systemic injustices of colonisation based on the experiences of the First Peoples of Victoria. This is reflected in its name; “Yoorrook”, a word in the Wemba Wemba/Wamba Wamba language for “truth”.
Yoorrook is Australia’s first formal truth-telling commission, tasked with inquiring into and reporting on historical and ongoing systemic injustices perpetrated by State and non-State entities against First Peoples within the State of Victoria since the start of colonisation.
Yoorrook delivered its first interim report, Yoorrook with Purpose in June 2022, and its report on the child protection and criminal justice systems, Yoorrook for Justice in August 2023. It is currently set to run until June 2025, with a report to be delivered to the State Government in December 2024.
It is the first such body in Australia to have this function and the first in the world to be Indigenous-led. Four of Yoorrook’s five commissioners are Indigenous, three of them Victorian Traditional Owners.
The Anglican Province of Victoria was contacted by the legal counsel of the Yoorrook Justice Commission on 19 March 2024. The letter detailed an invitation to contribute to the Commission’s enquiries into Land injustice, Education, Health and Housing. The letter requested a detailed response to 15 questions from the Province of Victoria by 28 March 2024.
Yoorrook asked for responses on these topics:
- Overview of the establishment of the Anglican Church in Victoria
- Missions, reserves and institutions
- Church / parishes (and associated land holdings) within Victoria historically & currently
- Acknowledgement of the Church’s role as a beneficiary of free / undervalued land grants
- Acknowledgement of systemic racism
- Support for Truth, Treaty and reconciliation with First Nations communities.
The detail that was requested in the timeframe allotted was extensive and required considerable coordination and cooperation between the Anglican Bishops and their officers around Victoria. For the record, I note that the Ballarat diocese submitted its response separately to the combined submission of Melbourne, Bendigo, Gippsland and Wangaratta.
Read more: Weighty work at Yoorrook as Anglican bishops testify
In particular, I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the Chancellor, the Archives office in Melbourne, the Registrar Malcolm Tadgell and the property team and Ken Hutton in my office in facilitating and producing the final report provided to the Commission by 28 March.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission advised the Anglican Province of Victoria on 10 April 2024 that two representatives were to attend a public hearing scheduled for 1 May 2024 and make a response to the Commissioners regarding the content provided in the submission. Representatives from the Uniting Church of Victoria and Tasmania and the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne were also requested to appear in the joint panel.
The short notice provided to the Province meant that I was unable to attend due to already confirmed international travel to the Primates and ARCIC meetings.
The Provincial Bishops agreed that Bishop Richard Treloar from Gippsland and Bishop Genieve Blackwell would represent the Province at the hearing.
The Province requested that an opening statement be provided to enable the Commissioners to understand the sense in which the Province was engaging in this process and to acknowledge the past actions that the church has been complicit in and the impact of these actions in the enduring trauma that First Nations people experienced in those times and are still experiencing today. The hearing and the submission by the Province of Victoria is available for people to view on the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s website.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission’s report will be foundational for the Government and our churches to guide the manner in which we as a community seek to embrace meaningful change and build understanding and trust with First Nations people.
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council (NATSIAC) endorsed a project for the development of Indigenous reconciliation and First Nations recognition in Victoria led by Canon Glenn Loughrey. The Provincial Bishops have recently endorsed this pilot project to commence and a commissioning of Glenn in this role will take place at the Provincial Evensong on 30 June 2024 here in St Paul’s Cathedral. This project seeks to establish an Aboriginal Council across the five Victorian dioceses to work in conjunction with the Provincial leadership to address areas of need and foster improved engagement with Aboriginal people.
Read more: Canon Glenn Loughrey hopes to make Indigenous Anglicans safer in Church in new role
In 2009 Dr Peter Adam at the time the Principal of Ridley College delivered a lecture titled “Australia- whose land? A Christian call for recompense”. This lecture contains many synergies with the issues the Yoorrook Justice Commission is now addressing and I commend it for your attention as we seek to identify an appropriate Christian response to colonisation and First Nation’s dispossession.
The Melbourne Diocese has a key role to play and I encourage the work of the Reconciliation Working Group chaired by Dean Andreas Loewe to provide
constructive guidance as we seek to move forward and build a lasting and valued relationship with our First Nations brothers and sisters.
An exciting initiative that I commend to you is Hope25 that I expect to be a fresh opportunity for us to engage with the questions of meaning in the wider community from the base of our parish and other ministries.
I would like to gratefully acknowledge the efforts of the Assistant Bishops, the Archdeacons and clergy generally in the diocese for the leadership and pastoral support provided to our parishes, Anglican schools, hospitals, justice institutions and Anglican Agencies. There is much to celebrate as we promote knowledge of the word of God in our communities. I also acknowledge and thank the many parish volunteers who shine the light of the Gospel into people’s lives on a day-to-day basis. Your contribution is significant and valued in the life of the diocese.
We have important strategic and oversight functions that are led by the Archbishop in Council. I am very grateful to all who serve in the many governance and management committees of our Diocese. We have compliance responsibilities that are overseen by both management and our governance committees. I would like to thank the Registrar, Anglican centre staff, the Archbishop in Council and Committee members for all you do to manage governance and compliance as well as support parishes with a strategic focus.
May God’s blessing be on you and prosper you as you carry out this work and on us as we support and encourage it.
I would like to close with the opening paragraph of a prayer for reconciliation that was included in the recent Ad Clerum prayer resources provided to the diocese on Monday last week.
Prayer for Others
Reconciling Christ, bless our efforts to bring about reconciliation.
Give us the strength to persevere without counting the hurts,
and to find within ourselves the capacity to keep on loving.
Give us the grace to be able to stand in the middle of situations,
and to be a conduit for the deep listening which can lead to healing and forgiveness. Amen
Source: Ann Siddall
Archbishop Philip Freier
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