One of Holland's first projects in Newcastle was to raise money for the building of the tower of Christ Church Cathedral which was completed in 1979.
During the aftermath of the 1989 earthquake in Newcastle, Holland oversaw a number of building works, including the construction of Bishop Tyrrell Lodge at Morpeth.
[11] Holland gave evidence by video link to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse while it was sitting in Newcastle in August 2016.
His evidence was that, as Bishop of Newcastle, he had not received any allegations that priests in the diocese had committed child sexual abuse and stated that there had not been any formal framework to deal with such accusations, so any case would have been handled in an ad hoc manner.
He denied receiving any complaint about sexual abuse by Father Peter Rushton of a 5-year-old son of a Newcastle diocese priest and the royal commission's finding on this allegation was that:[12] We are satisfied that in the early 1980s Bishop Holland was informed of an allegation that Father Rushton had sexually abused COE, the young son of an assistant priest in the Wallsend parish, COA.
We are further satisfied that, when Father Rushton learned that Ms Pamela Wilson, a parishioner and friend of COE's parents, intended to complain to Bishop Holland about the alleged abuse, he telephoned her and threatened her with legal action if she pursued the complaint.
We are satisfied that Bishop Holland failed to take any action to report or risk manage Father Rushton once he was made aware of the allegations.
[14] A lawyer who had advised the diocese for many years told the commission that "the then Bishop Alfred Holland had a "do-nothing approach" to matters of sexual impropriety.
"[15] In evidence before the royal commission, it was revealed that under Holland's watch the diocesan solicitor, Keith Allen, also defended a priest charged with child sexual assault.
The royal commission found that Holland's failure to act in the face of the allegations was a lost opportunity to prevent future child sexual abuse.