Accused: How allegations of sexual abuse emerged after former Cabinet minister’s death - and a plea for police to keep investigating

“But he was too high and mighty. He had connections in the highest places. Everyone thought he was untouchable.

“He is potentially the Jimmy-f***ing-Saville of New Zealand,” he said, referring to the English entertainer whose high-profile connections were considered by many to be a shield for the prolific sexual abuse which emerged after his death.

The man’s mother has also spoken to the Herald of her frustration over the “powerful man” whose abuse “destroyed” her family.

The social influence and power of Anthony “Aussie” Malcolm - who died last week aged 83 - is cited by the man and his mother and others as the reason it has taken so long for the claims of abuse against children to emerge.

Yet the publication of those claims in a social media post last week following Malcolm’s death has already prompted others to come forward, according to a friend of the family, a private investigator, who first published the allegations.

Police have yet to respond to allegations that previous complaints by the man and his parents did not lead to the kind of investigation that appears to have been under way at the time of Malcolm’s death. It has emerged police launched a fresh investigation this year after witness statements provided to the royal commission were provided.

Police minister Mark Mitchell will also not comment on the claims of a cover-up and his office will not give a reason why other than “it would be inappropriate”. The Herald has asked - and has not received an answer - as to whether Mitchell knew of the complaints either during or after his police career.

The allegations against Malcolm

The man, now 50, has provided the Herald with a copy of his witness statement to the Royal Commission into Abuse In Care in which he detailed the sexual abuse he said Malcolm had carried out when he was aged 15 and 16.

The account of the abuse is sexually graphic and highly personal but also detailed, citing different places and times and circumstances in which it took place.

The man said it was the same information provided to police in 1992 - eight years after Malcolm left Parliament having served three terms, including one term as Minister of Immigration and a term as Minister of Health.

“There was an investigation but it was shut down. It’s bullshit and I’ve had to carry this around on my shoulders.”

He said the 1992 police complaint went nowhere as did another to police in Auckland in 2019 and to police in the Bay of Plenty around 2020.

“I always wanted it to come out,” he told the Herald. “We went to everybody we could to expose him.”

The man detailed an event in 2019 which became one of two triggers that led to his royal commission testimony.

He said he was in Auckland at the McDonald’s on Quay St when Malcolm entered with a child around lunchtime and took a neighbouring seat.

Seeing Malcolm, and then realising he was there with a child, was such a devastating shock that it led to the man having nightmares in the days that followed.

Having not seen Malcolm for decades, he doubted the older man recognised him. “I said, ‘do you remember me?’.”

And then he told Malcolm: “You need to go to jail Aussie Malcolm. You’re a paedophile - you’re a dirty old man.”

The man said Malcolm “freaked out” and left with the child. The man then went to Auckland central police station to report his concerns over seeing Malcolm with a child.

Jokes at political gatherings - claim

The second trigger was the man needing to put his yacht ashore when sailing up the Bay of Plenty coast as Covid-19 struck in 2020.

By chance, it put him in a small coastal town where his mother - to whom he had disclosed the abuse aged 18 - had come to know private investigator Clinton Bowerman, who had his own connection to Malcolm.

Bowerman told the Herald he had - for reasons he did not know - been assigned to stake out Malcolm in 1988 early in his career as a private investigator working for a former police officer. He later monitored houses owned by Malcolm and said the presence of boys was a constant feature.

He said he had also been present at National Party gatherings at which Malcolm was referred to with disparaging dark humour.

“Those jokes were off the backs of kids he had abused,” he told the Herald. He said he believed there was knowledge of the allegations among National Party MPs at the time.

And there was one other in the small coastal town - a man who used to coach kids’ rugby with Malcolm, who also knew the family who had alleged abuse. He said he was aware of Malcolm spending time with boys and had concerns so strong that during the 1990s he had called police and Child Youth and Family Services in Whangarei.

“The cop said they had spoken to him and there was no complaint,” he said, so it wasn’t taken further.

The bringing together of those with their own experiences and concerns led to the victim approaching police even as Bowerman made contact with the royal commission.

Two calls to the commission helpline led to a conversation with a lawyer that had Bowerman believing there was more than one complainant. Stuff has reported that the royal commission heard from a man who - aged 10 in 2012 - had disclosed to his mother claims of sexual abuse by Malcolm. Police were told but no charges were laid.

The call also led to the victim making contact with the royal commission and providing a witness statement.

In it, he says: “The abuse has affected my mental health. I’ve made numerous suicide attempts. Memories of the abuse still affect me. I’ve found it very hard to have any form of connection and relationship with other people. Because of the abuse, I find I’m waiting for people to hurt me.”

Police launch new investigation this year

That statement was later provided to police who contacted the man earlier this year to tell him a new investigation had been opened.

“Thirty years later and he says they are investigating. They’re not opening an old file, they’re opening a new one.”

With Malcolm now dead, he said he was concerned police might stop investigating. “I want them to leave it open so the other victims can come forward.”

It would also be “some form of acknowledgement people like that can’t get away with what he did”.

The turmoil of not feeling he could disclose, and the torment of knowing his younger brother maintained an association with Malcolm, fractured his relationship with his family.

“It drove a big wedge but we have rebuilt as a family.” That’s not the case with his brother who he last spoke to decades ago. “I miss my bro,” he said. “I don’t have a brother.”

With Malcolm dead and the allegation public, he said he was grappling with a powerful aftermath. As he spoke to the Herald, he described pacing the room “like a greyhound wanting to go out the gate”. And he said he had bought his first pack of cigarettes in six years.

“It feels hollowing. I’m feeling quite numb at the moment. I feel, right at this moment, f***ed off about it all.

“I was preparing to go to fight. I’ve done a whole lot of healing over the past five years to be ready now for what was to come. I was ready to go to war and make sure my story got told properly.

“I was hoping we could still get him locked up. I wanted to see him sit inside a room with a whole lot of men who wanted to do to him what he did to me.

“One of the reasons I’ve survived numerous attempts to take my own life is I’m pretty sure the universe wants me here for this - to make sure it doesn’t happen again to anyone, by anyone in power, by anyone who has the ability to influence for all these years.”

Asked if he had a message for others who might come forward, he said: “You’re not alone. He’s gone now.”

‘Are you accusing me of something’

The man’s mother told the Herald of how it felt “liberating” to hear of Malcolm’s death.

“I hope now everybody can speak up,” she said.

“He’s not there to threaten us any more. He was very threatening.”

She said there had been clashes over the years with Malcolm about his contact with her sons and he had made a fearsome opponent - aggressive and with ready recourse to lawyers. On one occasion, she said a meeting at a cafe turned ugly as “he threw things across the table”.

“Aussie got very angry and said, ‘are you accusing me of something’.”

That accusation was put to Malcolm, she believed, with the police complaint in 1992. She recalled the crushing disappointment over the decision not to prosecute, based - she said - on doubts her son would withstand being cross-examined in court.

“They felt if they took [my son] to court he would have been annihilated by Aussie Malcolm’s legal team.”

In contrast, she said: “We believed we had enough evidence at the time. I could have withstood that on the witness stand. [My son], with the right support, would have been very good too.”

She said she hoped police would continue investigating despite Malcolm’s death.

“It shouldn’t be the news of the moment. It should be continued on.” And, she said, when the finding reflected what she believed it would, “he should be stripped of his ‘Honourable’ title.” Malcolm was able to use the title “Right Honourable”, reflecting his time in Cabinet as a member of the executive council.

Bowerman said his publication of the allegations on Facebook had led to a lot of feedback including two people who said they had been abused by Malcolm.

Malcolm entered Parliament in 1975 at a time when he operated an advertising agency. Prior to that, he had worked as a social worker with the Child Welfare Division of the Department of Education in Wellington and Palmerston North.

Police yet to decide path forward

In response to questions about Malcolm, Police has said it is considering how to manage new historical complaints of abuse in care.

“This will include complaints that relate to individuals who have since died. While prosecutions are unable to be brought in those instances, we still encourage anyone with a complaint to come forward so we can connect them with any appropriate support that may be of benefit.”

The royal commission raised the spectre of senior politicians abusing children in its final report earlier this year.

In it, it detailed claims that:

The inquiry report detailed difficulties its investigators faced including witnesses who did not want to engage - including those “fearful of repercussions due to the powerful position formerly or still held by their alleged abuser”.

“This included beliefs that NZ Police were aware of the paedophile rings at the time and had not investigated them,” the report said.

Others were too unwell to cooperate or did not have first-hand evidence to pass on, ultimately finding only one witness who was able to speak to “organised abuse” in care.

The claims reflected allegations made in 1992 which were investigated and refuted by police at the time in a report to Minister of Police John Banks.

Following the report, and again after questions over Malcolm, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon urged anyone with information to come forward.

David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004.