The Minns government is facing pressure to close a legal loophole exempting the Catholic Church from legal liability for institutional child sexual abuse, following a 2024 High Court ruling which held the Church could not be liable for abuse perpetrated by non-employees, namely clergy.
While Victoria and the ACT have since clarified the law to close this loophole, NSW Attorney General Michael Daley has refused to do the same.
Today, on National Survivors Day, 16 MPs from the Legislative Assembly crossbench and the NSW Upper House have written to the premier calling for urgent legislative reform.
Sue Higginson, Greens MP, Solicitor and Spokesperson for Justice, said ‘If the Catholic Church has overseen institutional child sexual abuse, it shouldn’t matter whether the abusers were employees or clergy.
‘Survivors should be able to hold the church accountable because that’s what justice demands, but under New South Wales law, many of them can’t.
‘The High Court exposed a gap in the law, and invited state governments to address it. Victoria has done it, the ACT has done it, but New South Wales is doing nothing,’ said Ms Higginson.
Perverse
‘Our current legal settings mean victim-survivors of sexual abuse in the Anglican church can be compensated because their abusers were employed, but victim-survivors in the Catholic Church can end up with nothing in the same circumstances,’ she said.
‘It’s quite frankly perverse, it’s compounding harm for victim survivors and it’s unacceptable. The same harm must come with the same access to justice and compensation.
‘Today, members of the NSW parliament in both houses have written to the premier and offered the premier the numbers he needs to progress legislation through the parliament, for the victim survivors who are being denied the justice they need.
‘This is a chance for the premier to show leadership and to work cooperatively towards this necessary reform to protect victims of heinous institutional child sexual abuse. Survivors are in the courts right now trying to access justice, and this parliament has the power to give it to them,’ said Sue Higginson.
The full letter is available here.
Signatories include: Sue Higginson MLC, Greg Piper MP, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Abigail Boyd MLC, Jeremy Buckingham MLC, Roy Butler MP, Amanda Cohn MLC,
Phil Donato MP, Cate Faehrmann MLC, Wes Fang MLC, Alex Greenwich MP, Emma Hurst MLC, Jenny Leong MP, Michael Regan MP, Jacqui Scruby MP , Kobi Shetty MP and Tamara Smith MP.
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