Dr Hollingworth apologised to survivors at a 2015 hearing of the child sex abuse royal commission and admitted he did not do enough in his response to abuse claims as Anglican archbishop of Brisbane in the 1990s.

A Queensland Police Service spokesman confirmed on Wednesday night that new information had been received in relation to those sex abuse allegations.

The spokesman said the new evidence was being reviewed by officers attached to state crime command as part of an ongoing investigation.

There was no allegation of sexual abuse levelled against Dr Hollingworth but rather, the spokesman said, police were investigating whether the former governor-general could be charged as an accessory after the fact for failing to act while he was archbishop.

Dr Hollingworth said he was yet to be approached by police. In a statement issued through his lawyer Bill Doogue late on Wednesday, he said the news reports were surprising, given the allegations "had been the subject of four inquiries in the past 15 years".

"None of those inquiries suggested he had committed any offence," Mr Doogue said in a statement.

"These inquiries included the royal commission, which examined the issues at length.

"Dr Hollingworth says he is aware that some of his opponents have been making complaints to police for some time but he had never been approached or interviewed by police."

Dr Hollingworth was head of the Brisbane diocese from 1990 to 2001, when then-prime minister John Howard appointed him governor-general.

He was forced to stand down from that role in 2003 amid criticism over the church's handling of abuse allegations when he was in charge.

Documents tendered to the 2015 child sex abuse royal commission in Brisbane showed senior Anglican Church officials knew about complaints St Paul's School headmaster Gilbert Case had not acted on sexual abuse allegations while in charge of Brisbane's Anglican schools.

Mr Case was headmaster at St Paul's when school counsellor Kevin John Lynch and music teacher Gregory Robert Knight were employed.

Lynch abused dozens of students and Knight was convicted on more than 20 sex abuse charges against a St Paul's boy.

Several students told the royal commission they complained to the headmaster about both teachers but he called them liars and did nothing, which he denied.

When a school council was told of allegations that Knight had exposed himself in front of boys at a school camp and fondled a boy's genitals, Mr Case accepted his resignation in 1984, before giving him a positive reference.

In his 2015 apology at the royal commission in Brisbane, Dr Hollingworth said he and the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane had not done enough upon hearing the abuse allegations.

"My apology is to the children, now adults, and the families of those who have been abused," he said.

"It's offered to all of you who have suffered great pain and become disillusioned that your complaints were not dealt with from the outset as they should have been.

"I am appalled by the abuse you suffered at the hand of the two school staff members from St Paul's School. I am saddened about the way these matters were dealt with during my time as archbishop.

"I deeply regret that I did not press harder to have your complaints investigated more rigorously. If I had exercised stronger authority, they may have been addressed more promptly and in a better manner.

"It's clear to me now that we did not do enough to help you, and the actions of the Diocese and the school compounded your distress and suffering, and for that, I am very sorry."

In 1993, Dr Hollingworth allowed priest John Elliot to continue working in Dalby, on Queensland's Darling Downs, after hearing allegations the priest abused at least one boy between 1975 and 1981.

The commission heard Elliot admitted to the abuse and that psychiatrist John Slaughter, who assessed Elliot, had advised Dr Hollingworth that paedophilia was not treatable.

Elliot served as rector of the Dalby parish until 1998 on the condition he was not involved with the Church of England Boys' Society, did not meet with boys unless another adult was present and retired at 65. He was then 60.

Dr Hollingworth apologised directly to the abuse survivor at the royal commission into institutional sex abuse in Hobart in 2016.

He acknowledged he failed the survivor and his family and had not understood the long-term repercussions of abuse.

- with Jorge Branco, Adam Morton and AAP