After working as a mathematics teacher and tutor in physics, from 1958 Newell studied for ordination as a residential student at Trinity College Theological School, Melbourne, winning the Henty Theological Studentship.
[4] In January 2016, Newell was accused of covering up for and further promoting convicted paedophile priest Louis Daniels at hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Newell denied any cover up yet told the Commission that he apologised "from the bottom of my heart" for any harm his actions may have caused.
[7][8] In February 2024, Justice Michael Brett of the Supreme Court of Tasmania ordered the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania to pay almost A$2.4 million in damages to a 53 year old man, who had been abused by paedophile priest Louis Victor Daniels on multiple occasions during the 1980s.
Justice Brett also said that he was "... satisfied that the impact on [the victim had] also been compounded to a significant extent by the response of [the then] Bishop Newell and the Church generally to [the victim's] disclosures of abuse, both at the time of the disclosures and over the years since.