Australia's Royal Commission into institutional abuse has begun an investigation into child abuse allegations against a preacher who helped create Australia's P
The commission will investigate how the Hills Christian Life Centre treated allegations against its founder, William Francis 'Frank' Houston. Frank was sacked by his son Brian, the high-profile founder of Hillsong Church, after he confessed in 2000 to sexually abusing a boy in New Zealand more than 30 years earlier.
In recent years, more allegations have been made against Mr Houston, who died in 2004. These include claims that he sexually abused a trainee pastor in the 1980s in an attempt to 'cure' him from being gay.
In a statement quoted in The Guardian, Hillsong Church said that it "welcomes any inquiry and will co-operate fully with the Royal Commission".
The Royal Commission is also due to investigate the treatment of allegations from the 1980s and '90s against Kenneth Sandilands, a former teacher at the Northside Christian College and the Northside Christian Centre (now Encompass Church) in Bundoora, Victoria, and the response of the Australian Christian churches to allegations against Jonathan Baldwin.
Both men are still alive.
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