''The church has known through its pastoral appointments board and its bishops that there have been problems with the conduct of all these priests previously reported to them.'' "How was it possible for Doveton to have six priests in a row who were paedophiles or abusers of vulnerable adults?" They were moved from parish to parish in Melbourne, elsewhere in Victoria and Australia - and even overseas by religious orders such as the Salesians, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Pallottines, she said. The placements gave them access to primary and secondary schools, hospitals, orphanages and other care institutions, church community and welfare organisations, missions to indigenous Australians and an education centre for the sight and hearing-impaired. The 18 include some of the most notorious paedophiles, such as Gerald Ridsdale, Edward Dowlan, Michael Glennon and the socialite priest, Vincent Kiss, as well as many who barely caught public attention.

While most relate to sexual abuse between the 1960s and 1980s, some were still being hidden in the past decade. Father Barry Robinson, who admitted having sex with a teenager in the rectory of his church in the US in 1994 and was returned to Australia when police were about to interview him, was assistant priest at Williamstown and even last year the church attempted to place him as a relief priest at Healesville - a parish that has had several problem priests - but parishioners protested. Another was Father David Daniel, jailed in 2000. Victims at East Brighton in the 1980s complained to church authorities but not police, and Daniel stayed in ministry, abusing several more children. Ridsdale was sent to 24 locations, mostly in Victoria, though the church had ample knowledge of his behaviour and had even sent him to Sydney, then the US, for treatment. Father Terrence Pidoto, later twice jailed over his sexual predation, worked in 17 parishes and chaplaincies. The mother of one victim who complained in the late 1970s was allegedly told by the priest then in charge of the Family Welfare Bureau: "Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Pidoto's predations continued.

Ms Last said: "We've looked at 18 as a start for this type of research to see how many times these known offenders were moved. It will all be in the pastoral appointment board files, which ask, 'Do we need to move them, for what reason and where is suitable?' I hope the inquiry will seek these files. Loading "How was it possible for Doveton to have six priests in a row who were paedophiles or abusers of vulnerable adults?" Ms Last said the problem was so bad that the Melbourne Victims Collective believed a dedicated police unit should be set up to work with victims of clergy.