Civil liberties advocates want Nick Xenophon hauled before a parliamentary privileges committee after the independent senator named a priest at the centre of a rape allegation.
The Australian Civil Liberties Association said the naming in Parliament of Monsignor Ian Dempsey, accused of raping John Hepworth, who is now an Anglican
bishop, was the "height of irresponsibility".
"Parliamentary privilege comes with responsibility and in our view that responsibility has been breached," spokesman Terry O'Gorman said yesterday. "Xenophon is acting as judge, jury and executioner."
O'Gorman said the law protecting the reputations of people accused of sexual crimes until after a committal hearing was in place for a reason.
"Mud sticks in relation to sexual allegations."
