A survivor of abuse at the hands of an Australian Anglican Priest says the church should be "on their knees begging for forgiveness" after its worldwide leader stood down in the wake of a report into his knowledge of sexual abuse.

On Tuesday, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, announced he would be standing down as the head of the church.

His decision came only a week after an independent report found he failed to alert police to a serial sexual and physical abuser who volunteered at Christian Summer Camps.

Steven Smith, a survivor of abuse at the hands of the Anglican Church in Australia in the 1970s, said he was shocked to see that the head of the church had done "exactly the same thing" as many senior church officials in Australia.

"All these years of knowing that all these children have been abused sexually and physically in various countries throughout the world by what appears to be a friend of his and he says nothing," he said.

"I thought these people would've learnt something from what's happened in the past and it appears they haven't — it's beyond forgiveness.

Mr Welby stood down in the wake of an independent investigation which found it was unlikely he had no knowledge that there were concerns around volunteer John Smyth.

Smyth was a barrister who ran summer camps for young Christians in the 1980s.

The report also described him as the most prolific serial abuser associated with the church.

He continued his abuse until close to his death in 2018.

"Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury," Mr Welby said in a statement.

"I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church.

"As I step down, I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse."

Mr Smith, 63, became an altar boy at an Anglican Church in Newcastle in 1971 when he fell victim to repeated abuse at the hands of priest Father George Parker.

He said Father Parker moved to another parish in 1975, putting an end to the abuse, but starting a 53-year-long fight for justice.

"It took the royal commission to drag out of these people that they knew what was happening and of course they knew because my mother told them in 1975," he said.

No justice until royal commission

Mr Smith said he reported the abuse several times before Father Parker was initially charged in 2000, but after the trial was abandoned in 2001, it took another 15 years before the charges were re-laid on December 23, 2016.

Father Parker died three weeks later.

Mr Smith said it was not until the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2017 that the church recognised him as a victim of the abuse.

Mr Smith said the former Archbishop of Canterbury should "face the music" for what he did not do.

"The offender has now died , as we're aware, in 2018 so the survivors get no justice, but again [Welby] had an obligation to report what he knew about this abuse to police … and he chose not to — it's just an absolute disgrace," he said.

"We're talking about hundreds of children sexually abused and physically abused … and Welby was aware of that and did nothing, it's such a moral disgrace from someone who is, for all intents and purposes, the leader of the [Church of England] throughout the world."

Archbishop of Adelaide and Primate of Australia, Geoffrey Smith, said in a statement that Mr Welby was a good and decent man with a focus on protecting vulnerable people who had acknowledged failures in the church's handling of the abuse allegations.

During his role as Archbishop of Canterbury, Mr Welby was the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide.

The 68-year-old was appointed as the 105^th Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013 after being ordained as a priest in 1992, following a career in the oil industry.

In May, Mr Welby presided over the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.