PM urged to sack friend in rape row

The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, flew home from an overseas trip last night to confront a pressing problem: how to convince a man who protected a paedophile priest and now stands accused of rape that he is not a fit person to be Governor-General.

Mr Howard is keeping his appointments diary close to his chest, but his schedule in the coming days is certain to include a visit to Yarralumla, the official Canberra residence of Peter Hollingworth, the Queen's representative in Australia.

The constitutional crisis has been simmering since February 2002, when Dr Hollingworth, a former Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, was accused of covering up a string of alleged incidents of child sexual abuse by priests and teachers during his decade in charge of the diocese. He resisted calls to resign, and Mr Howard – the only person able to sack him, although in theory he merely advises the Queen – refused to intervene.

Then came last week's bolt from the blue: the extraordinary allegation that the nation's most senior statesman raped a young woman at a church holiday camp in the 1960s.

Rosemarie Jarmyn, 57, launched a compensation claim against Dr Hollingworth in the Supreme Court of Victoria earlier this year, but the case was conducted in secrecy after his lawyers obtained a blanket suppression order. It was only after the media got wind of the order that the former churchman, seeking to head off the impending storm, released a video statement denying the rape claim.

His rebuttal was detailed and, to many observers, convincing, but his days as Governor-General must be numbered, because his position was already shaky before the latest bombshell.

Ten days ago, the long-awaited report of a church inquiry into the sex abuse scandal was tabled in the Queensland parliament. The inquiry was scathing about Dr Hollingworth's conduct, particularly his decision to allow a priest who had molested a schoolboy for three years to continue in the ministry.

To this day, the former archbishop has admitted to nothing more serious than an error of judgement. Even many of his supporters now believe that he has tarnished the office of Governor-General and must go. The Prime Minister conspicuously declined to express confidence in him when invited to do so last week.

The overseas trip was supposed to be a victory tour for Mr Howard, who sent troops to fight alongside American and British forces in Iraq. He went to Texas to meet President Bush, to London to see Tony Blair and then flew home via the Gulf, where he visited Australian troops.

Instead, Mr Howard – who was criticised for appointing a churchman to a post that is supposed to represent all Australians – has been dogged by the Hollingworth issue. He refused to say whether he discussed the subject with the Queen when he met her in London last week, but they must have talked about how to rid themselves of their turbulent priest.

Yesterday Australian newspapers reported that Mr Howard had known about the Jarmyn case for five months. There was further controversy when it emerged that the chief government whip, Jim Lloyd, had circulated a memo warning MPs not to discuss the Hollingworth issue. Last week a string of Cabinet ministers publicly urged the Governor-General to consider his future.

When it comes to hiring and firing the Governor-General, the Prime Minister makes a recommendation and the Queen rubber-stamps it. One of the oddities of the system is that the Governor-General can also dismiss the Prime Minister, as Australians discovered in 1975 when Sir John Kerr sacked Gough Whitlam to break a parliamentary deadlock.

Ms Jarmyn, who died last month, claimed in the legal action that she was raped at a youth camp that Dr Hollingworth organised in the Victorian city of Bendigo in late 1965 or early 1966, when she was 20. Dr Hollingworth said he believed that it was a case of mistaken identity, pointing out that he had never worked in the Bendigo diocese.

The Governor-Generalis said by friends to be seeking spiritual guidance on the best course of action. Everyone – including, no doubt, the Queen and Mr Howard – is praying that illumination is speedy.