Man on child sex charges wants bail change

A leading West Australian counsellor facing child sex abuse offences against 12 boys wants to vary his bail conditions because police have been waking him up when they check that he is abiding by his curfew.

Allan Keith Huggins is facing more than 60 charges of sexual abuse against boys aged between 11 and 17, dating back more than 20 years.

Among the raft of offences are aggravated sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and sexual penetration of a juvenile male.

The charges stem from when Huggins was an education officer for the Warminda program, which helped troubled boys in the 1990s, and as a counselling psychotherapist at the Perth Adolescent Service.

Appearing via video link in Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday, the court heard Huggins wanted to vary his bail conditions, which includes a curfew, an order to stay away from alleged victims, to not leave the state and report daily to police.

Outside court, his lawyer David McKenzie said his client was being woken up at night by police when they visited him to check that he was abiding by his curfew.

"He's a man in his late 60s, and at the moment, he's being woken up three times a night," he said.

"He can't get a good night's sleep, so I'm applying to have that curfew dropped."

A bail variation application hearing will be held on February 6.

The matter has also been committed to the Perth District Court for a trial mention on April 17.

Huggins was granted permission in October to resume his counselling career on the proviso he had no unsupervised contact with anyone aged under 21.

Police say the investigation is continuing, and at a previous court appearance, prosecutors said there could be at least 20 alleged victims.

Huggins runs a counselling service for men and was appointed by then-federal health minister Carmen Lawrence to help draft the first National Men's Health Policy Document in 1995.

A national hotline - 1800 552 203 - has been established to encourage alleged victims to come forward.