Abuse survivors who have been under-compensated by the Anglican Church in Queensland could have payments topped up, a royal commission has heard.
The Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, Phillip Aspinall, who was continuing his evidence to a child sex abuse commission hearing into private school St Paul's, said on Friday an independent umpire examine settlements already made by the diocese.
Dr Aspinall said he was satisfied recent payments met the benchmarks set by the royal commission, but there would be a review of all settlements made "without the benefit of those benchmarks".
The diocese "will be very open to making some adjustments", he said.
The archbishop was being questioned about past and present church procedures for handling child sex abuse complaints.
During a two-week hearing in Brisbane, the commission heard evidence of shocking abuse over two decades by Kevin Lynch, a school counsellor at St Paul's and at Brisbane Grammar School.
Lynch, who took his own life in 1997 when he was facing charges, would prey on the most vulnerable and hypnotise boys before abusing them.
Last Friday outside the Brisbane hearing, Dr Aspinall told reporters the church diocesan council had decided several weeks ago to adopt the policy of refunding school fees for all abuse victims within the diocese, which stretches from Coolangatta to Bundaberg and west to the Northern Territory border.
At the resumed hearing in Sydney, Dr Aspinall was asked by Kevin Kelso, a lawyer representing abuse victims, if he was aware the church's director of professional standards in southern Queensland, Gregory Milles, had knocked back a request for a school-fee refund by an abuse survivor.
Mr Kelso said the survivor was told giving a refund "wouldn't be policy" and asked if an apology would do.
Dr Aspinall said this was "absolutely not" the diocesan policy.
"I'd be very surprised if the director of professional standards does not understand that policy," he said.
There must be some type of miscommunication, he said.
Outside the commission a spokesman for the church rejected Mr Kelso's claim, saying it was "unsubstantiated".
"The Church can confirm it is refunding school fees for the survivors of child sexual abuse at St Paul's School and for the survivors of abuse in any other Anglican school in the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane," he said.
In evidence on Friday, Dr Aspinall said he met regularly with professional standards directors to ensure protocols enacted by the diocese were followed.
He said he had experienced instances where protocols were not followed.
The hearings into the Brisbane schools will continue in Melbourne on November 30 to hear from Bernard Yorke, former general manager of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane who could not attend the Sydney hearing.
