QUEENSLAND (AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
February 13, 2018
By Josh Robertson
Queensland Governor and former chief justice Paul de Jersey and a fellow judge played a key role in thwarting an internal push by Anglican clergy for the church to abandon a contentious legal defence against child sex abuse claims, victims and their supporters say.
Abuse survivors and supporters have criticised the judges’ intervention in the 2009 general meeting of the Anglican Brisbane Diocese, which voted down a motion to stop using legal time limits.
The limits forced victims to sue by the age of 21, effectively limiting any institution’s potential legal exposure.
The motion, which called on the church to “set an ethical lead in the community by … not invoking the statute of limitations defence”, would have set a nationwide precedent.
But the Queensland Governor, who in 2009 was chief justice and chancellor, or legal advisor, to the diocese, warned the church would lose its insurance.
According to notes of the meeting by an abuse survivor, the chief justice also referred to victims suing because of the church’s “deep pockets”.
It comes after legal experts raised doubts about the appropriateness of judges’ roles as legal advisors to the church.
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