The barrister contracted to independently review the Canberra-Goulburn Catholic Archdiocese's decision to place a disgraced priest next to two Canberra primary schools has quit.
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Sydney barrister Jane Seymour had been brought on to scrutinise the breakdown in communication that led Father Brian Hassett, a priest with substantiated complaints of improper conduct towards children, to be housed next to Sts Peter and Paul Primary School and Malkara School without either principals being told of his background.
But Ms Seymour handed back the brief several weeks ago to take up a role with the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, The Canberra Times has learnt.
A spokeswoman from the archdiocese confirmed Ms Seymour was no longer conducting the review and had been replaced by another Sydney barrister, Juliet Lucy.
"As per the brief given to Jane, and subsequently Juliet, the timeline is for the review to be finalised by the end of May. The archbishop will then respond to the report by the end of June," the spokeswoman said.
The archdiocese was widely criticised for placing the disgraced priest in housing for retired clergy next to the schools in Garran given he had been stood down over allegations of improper behaviour towards children, which were later substantiated in an in-house investigation overseen by the NSW Ombudsman.
The Institute for Professional Standards and Safeguarding conducted a risk assessment about his placement next to the schools and found him to be of a "low" risk given his ill health.
Sts Peter and Paul Primary School principal Margaret Pollard was given a copy of a risk assessment in May last year, although the document bizarrely contained no details of the allegations.
Troublingly, the Institute for Professional Standards and Safeguarding instructed Mrs Pollard to limit the distribution of the risk assessment to senior staff only.
Other staff in the school and the ACT Catholic Education Office remained unaware.
After the priest's past came to light, Archbishop Christopher Prowse announced an independent review to "ensure full transparency and that such failings do not arise in the future", according to a spokesperson.
The Catholic Education Office has already made changes to ensure an incident like this could not happen again.
In March, Catholic Education director Ross Fox said the Institute for Professional Standards and Safeguarding would no longer be oversee child protection matters in Catholic schools and could not provide instructions to staff.
