Former NT administrator opens up about being groomed as a child

Hugh Heggie was just 14 years old when an older church youth group leader began grooming him. The youth group in Victoria, where he grew up, had been a safe place. Then one evening, the leader — a man in his 20s — offered him alcohol and suggested the pair go to the drive-in cinema. Mr Heggie declined the offer but said the conversation then turned. "He started talking about men touching boys, or men touching men," he said.Two days later, the man asked him to go to the drive-in again, and this time he relented and asked his mother for permission.Now aged 76, Mr Heggie is a former doctor and the former Northern Territory administrator — the NT's equivalent of a state governor — who became a household name during the COVID pandemic as the NT's chief health officer.More than 60 years after his experience with the youth group leader, he is telling his story publicly for the first time. Hugh Heggie was the NT's chief health officer during COVID. (ABC News: Che Chorley)On that day, Mr Heggie said the church leader picked him up and kept offering him alcohol."I realised he was trying to get me intoxicated, so I pretended to drink," he said. Halfway through the film, Mr Heggie alleged the man put his hand on his leg. "When his hand went too far, I got out of the car and said, 'You either take me home now or I will walk home'," he said. Mr Heggie never returned to the youth group, nor did he report the incident to police or tell his parents.He said he considered himself lucky to have escaped, and chose to bury what happened, telling no one for decades. But stories of abuse kept finding their way into his life. He said family members were sexually assaulted and, as a doctor, other men disclosed their own instances of abuse in the privacy of a consultation room. As a parent he became hypervigilant, worrying about sending his children to Scouts or friends' homes. He recalled refusing to let one of his children attend a party in a park. Hugh Heggie says he never reported what happened to him, but it affected how he acted as a parent. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)"Other times, dropping my young adult [child] off, I said, 'I'm going to come in and introduce myself to the family' … and I often parked outside so I was there to take her home," he said. Mr Heggie said he now feels angry about what happened to him."I didn't even think about reporting him," he said. "Because it basically was an attempt, I didn't think about it."But yes, it does worry me … particularly because of the possibility there were other young people that he took advantage of." Clare Leaney says stories like Hugh Heggie's can empower other people to seek justice. (Supplied: National Survivors' Foundation)Instances of child harm have surged across Australia in the past decade, according to recent research by the University of Sydney. However, National Survivors Foundation chief executive Clare Leaney said stories like Mr Heggie's were crucial for changing these statistics and empowering people to seek justice. "Hugh is an example of survivorship that people don't necessarily expect to see," she said. "Of how survivors [can] build a life that can be both surviving and thriving [despite] the most horrific violence imaginable." Hugh Heggie swore in Lia Finocchiaro as NT chief minister at Government House in 2024 during his time as the NT administrator. (Supplied: Pema Pakhrin/NT News)Although more people now speak out, Ms Leaney said gaps in the law remained a barrier. She said in all states and territories except for Victoria and the ACT, organisations including churches, Scouts and swim clubs could not be held vicariously liable for abuse committed by individuals who were not employees, potentially limiting survivors' avenues for compensation and justice."Justice should not be dependent on a person's employment status," she said. NT Attorney General Marie-Clare Boothby said the government "will work with national counterparts on a uniform approach to redress and liability" and urged survivors to seek support and justice. "It takes immense courage to disclose abuse and sexual violence, and I encourage victim-survivors to contact NT Police and to access specialist advice and support."Mr Heggie is now an ambassador for the National Survivors Foundation, and said he hoped sharing his story would help other survivors feel less alone. "It's important that we all have an understanding of what occurs, to prevent it," he said. "We need to provide hope for the next generation … and make sure the next generation of children are safe. "The metric of that will be whether the numbers of sexual assaults is reduced."