Burnie, Tasmania - The Anglican Church in Tasmania has admitted it was aware of allegations that a senior priest had abused a teenage boy, but did not pass the information on to police.
Reverend Chris Jones says the boy told a senior church figure of the alleged abuse by Louis Victor Daniels in 1987.
Daniels, who was recently convicted of molesting 10 youths, was promoted to arch deacon of Burnie two years later.
Reverend Jones says Daniels was disciplined by the church.
"The church was made aware of a complaint about sexual abuse by Daniels," he said.
"What the church hierarchy did at the time was take action which included disciplining Daniels, the hierarchy required him to resign from the positions and we required personal undertakings that he would amend his behaviour."
Child welfare advocates have welcomed the church's admission that it was aware of the allegations of Daniel's abuse.
Steve Fisher, from the child welfare group SISCA, is calling for an independent inquiry.
"We would like the church to fund an independent inquiry, not only into the activities of the paedophiles themselves but the conduct of the church hierarchy who, as Bishop Harrower has stated in one instance, knew what was going on at the time," he said.