HOBSONS Bay councillors last week voted by a narrow margin to change the name of an Altona Meadows street named after a convicted paedophile Catholic priest.
One of the victims of Victor Rubeo, Tony Hersbach, told the Weekly he would mention the council’s decision to rename Rubeo Avenue on Monday at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse by the clergy.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne told the Weekly that it “accepted” the council’s decision.
As predicted by the Weekly on February 12, a council majority (4-3) defied a council officers’ report not to change Rubeo Avenue because most street residents opposed a name change, citing cost and inconvenience.
Twenty-one people in the street opposed the name change and nine supported it.
As reported exclusively by the Weekly on November 28, the street was named after Victor Rubeo, who, in 1996, pleaded guilty in the Ringwood Magistrates Court to two counts of indecent assault against Mr Hersbach and his twin Will, committed at Laverton in 1967 when the boys were 14.
Rubeo, 78, died on December 16, 2011, the day he was meant to front the Melbourne Magistrates Court on 30 more child sex abuse charges committed against the twins.
Point Cook woman Christine Dunsmore and her mother Jen Austin, of Altona North, had petitioned to change the street name, saying their former family priest “shouldn’t be revered in any way, shape or form”.
Cr Luba Grigorovitch, who brought the petition to the council, voted to change the street name along with councillors Angela Altair, Tony Briffa and Paul Morgan.
Councillors Colleen Gates, Peter Hemphill and Sandra Wilson voted against.
Ms Dunsmore said she rang Mr Hersbach after the council voted to tell him the good news.
“I’m so pleased that council members searched their hearts and minds to discern and make an ethical decision,” she told the Weekly.
Mr Hersbach, who on Monday gave evidence to the state inquiry into clergy child sex abuse, told the Weekly he would put the council’s decision on the record.
He said he was “really grateful to the people who took up the fight for us” but shocked at the closeness of the council vote.
“The whole family really appreciates it, not just me, but also . . . other victims who I’ve had contact with.
“My brother Will . . . he was very upset at the attitude of the residents . . . that self-interest trumps the principle.
“And that’s how I felt with the councillors who voted against it: that community consultation would trump the principle of what we were trying to get across.”
James O’Farrell, a spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, said decisions about naming or renaming streets belonged to local and state governments.
Cr Grigorovitch said each Rubeo Avenue resident could apply for a $50 assistance package to help with costs associated with the name change.
