Hugh Heggie, former NT administrator, reveals he was groomed at 14

Heggir was 14, growing up in Victoria, when a leader at his church youth group — a man in his 20s — began grooming him. The group had been a safe place until the leader offered him alcohol and suggested the pair go to a drive-in cinema. Heggie turned down the first invitation, but two days later he relented and asked his mother for permission.

On the night, Heggie says the man picked him up and kept offering him alcohol. According to his account, he pretended to drink: 'I realised he was trying to get me intoxicated.' Halfway through the film he alleges the man put a hand on his leg, so he got out of the car and told him, 'You either take me home now or I will walk home.' He never returned to the youth group, never told his parents and never went to police.

Now 76, Heggie is a former doctor who served as the Northern Territory's administrator — the NT's equivalent of a state governor — and became a household name as the territory's chief health officer during COVID. In 2024, during his time as administrator, he swore in Lia Finocchiaro as chief minister at Government House.

He says he considered himself lucky to escape and buried what happened for decades, but stories of abuse kept finding him. Family members were sexually assaulted, and as a doctor other men disclosed their own abuse in the privacy of a consultation room. As a parent he became hypervigilant, worrying about sending his children to Scouts or friends' homes, refusing to let one child attend a party in a park, and parking outside gatherings so he was there to take his young adult child home. He now feels angry, and worries the man may have taken advantage of other young people.

National Survivors Foundation chief executive Clare Leaney said stories like his are crucial to changing Australia's child harm statistics, which recent University of Sydney research shows have surged over the past decade. 'Hugh is an example of survivorship that people don't necessarily expect to see,' she said. She also flagged gaps in the law: in every state and territory except Victoria and the ACT, organisations including churches, Scouts and swim clubs cannot be held vicariously liable for abuse by people who are not employees, potentially limiting survivors' avenues for compensation. '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 victim-survivors to contact NT Police and access specialist advice and support. 'It takes immense courage to disclose abuse and sexual violence,' she said. Heggie is now an ambassador for the National Survivors Foundation and hopes speaking out will help other survivors feel less alone. 'We need to provide hope for the next generation,' he said. 'The metric of that will be whether the numbers of sexual assaults is reduced.'