Morrison Continues to Avoid Questions On Brian Houston

A gossip that the Wall Street Journal reported in September that Morrison had been 'determined' to bring Houston to the White House, with several rounds of discussions between Canberra and Washington before the idea was vetoed by the White House.



The report on the potential invite came while Morrison was in the United States with an Australian press pack which immediately questioned the prime minister about the story. Morrison refused to answer any questions on it. 


The royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse heard that in 1999, Houston's father, Frank, had confessed to him when confronted that he had abused a child in the 1970s. There are several other cases from around the same time in both New Zealand and Australia.


Houston did not report his father's confession to the NSW police, the royal commission found.


Houston has maintained he believed it was not his place to report the crime, because the victim, Brett Sengstock, was an adult at the time Houston became aware of the abuse and could report the crime himself. Sengstock has refuted this claim.