The former Anglican Archbishop of Perth Roger Herft is to face a significant internal investigation that could ultimately see him stripped of any right to officiate as a priest.

In a statement, the Anglican Church’s Episcopal Standards Commission confirmed it was investigating complaints about the conduct of the former Archbishop following his appearance before the child abuse royal commission in 2016.

Archbishop Herft resigned from his position as Perth’s most senior Anglican in 2016 after admitting he let down survivors of child sexual abuse when he was Bishop of Newcastle between 1993 and 2005.

At the time the resignation marked Archbishop Herft as one of the most senior casualties of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual abuse.

“Complaints about the conduct of Bishop Roger Herft when he was Bishop of Newcastle are being investigated by the Episcopal Standards Commission, the Anglican authority for dealing with allegations about bishops,” a spokesperson for the commission said.

“The conduct of Bishop Herft and other Newcastle bishops and leaders was examined by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Case Study 42, published in November 2017.

“The Episcopal Standards Commission is investigating the many issues which arise from the information it has received. It will determine its course of action as soon as it can.”

In hearings in 2016 the Royal Commission heard how Archbishop Herft had mishandled a series of horrific abuse cases and had been “wilfully blind” to the criminal conduct of clergy under his authority.

Amid the fallout of the Royal Commission hearings, the Anglican Church in Australia changed its internal rules to allow it to make disciplinary findings against former clergy - not only presently serving priests and religious figures.

It is understood the complaints against the former Archbishop will be examined by first by the episcopal commission, which will then hand its findings to a high-powered episcopal standards board with the power to “de-frock” the former top Perth official - meaning he would be denied any rights from officiating as a priest - either by saying mass or presiding over funerals or marriages.

“The Episcopal Standards Commission is putting this investigation on the public record in line with its constitutional protocols, but those protocols strictly limit the information it can release before any finding is made,” the commission said.