THE Salvation Army supported a self-confessed child molester to get a working with children check, it admitted today in the child sex abuse royal commission.

It’s former personnel chief, Major Peter Farthing, said that it was not what it seemed and accused the lawyer who asked the question of providing the latest media headlines.

He said that although one of its officers Colin Haggar got a working with children check, he did not actually ever work with children after he had admitted sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl in 1989.

He was being questioned by Karen McGlinchley who was appearing for a number of witnesses including Major Michelle White, who finally blew the whistle on Mr Haggar last year and reported him to the NSW Ombudsman.

“You may have just provided today’s headlines against the Salvation Army,” he said.

Major Farthing agreed that the Salvation Army had not revealed the 1989 incident when Mr Haggar applied for the check in 2002. He remains entitled to work with children until 2018.

Major Farthing said that when he saw that Mr Haggar had received a working with children check he did not think it was a good idea.

“When I saw it, I thought oh good grief, you know, what was that about?” he said.

CHILD ABUSERS ARE ‘NOT PAEDOPHILES’

Earlier Major Farthing told the commission that sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl doesn’t make you a paedophile.

Major Farthing disputed that one of their officers, Colin Haggar, was a paedophile because some sexual assaults on children were opportunist.

The commission has heard that Mr Haggar had admitted to “fingering” the eight-year-old girl in 1989. The girl later claimed he had inappropriately touched her another two times.

But Major Farthing said that did not make Mr Haggar a paedophile.

“It has been reported that the Salvation Army had a paedophile in its ranks all those years. We would dispute that,” Major Farthing said.

“My understanding is that a paedophile is somebody whose primary sexual orientation is towards children or adolescents and not all offenders are paedophiles.

“And some people offend in a kind of crime of opportunity -a situational crime.

“This is my understanding that left alone with a child they might have some brokenness, something going on in their own life which makes them vulnerable to offend and they will abuse a child.”

It was Major Farthing who counselled Mr Haggar for 18 months after he was dismissed from the Salvation Army in 1990 for the sexual assault. Mr Haggar was later reinstated.

Major Farthing, who has said the Salvos had been naive in their dealing with sex offenders, wrote to him: “May we say we are delighted with this outcome.”

In 2007 when the Salvation Army introduced a new policy that required no-one who had been “convicted or cautioned for a sexual offence” will be considered for an officership.

Major Farthing took legal advice about Mr Haggar and was told that allowing him to continue as an officer was likely to expose the Army to considerable risk of an accusation of vicarious liability should there be a subsequent sexual offence.

Psychiatrist Dr Bruce Westmore told the Salvos that “on Major Haggar’s account of the facts” he was a very low risk.

Mr Haggar’s account has been challenged in the commission because he admitted to only one of the alleged assaults and claimed to have gone to hand himself in to police who he claims sent him away.

The hearing continues.