(AUSTRALIA)
Australian Financial Review [Sydney, NSW, Australia]
July 2, 2026
By Myriam Robin
The federal government says it would be very concerned if the Christian Brothers were trying to shield their assets from claims made by abuse victims in a dramatic intervention into the winding up of the 183-year-old Catholic order.
The warning came at a NSW Supreme Court hearing that halted all legal cases currently in process against the Christian Brothers, and after media attention on the property transfers made by the Christian Brothers to their education arm that have left the order unable to meet its liabilities to victims.
The transferred properties – mostly signed over before the abolition of the liability-limiting Ellis defence and which The Australian Financial Review reported on Friday would now be worth $2 billion – have left the order unable to meet $774 million in known liabilities to abuse victims. Last week, the court heard the Christian Brothers had just $23 million in cash and a property portfolio worth $216 million.
Appearing for the Commonwealth as an interested party and creditor, barrister Sera Mirzabegian, SC, referred to the transfers between the Christian Brothers and Edmund Rice Education Australia. “It would obviously [be] very disturbing and concerning if arrangements were made to shield assets or limit institutional liability.”
An affidavit from order head Brother Gerard Brady served the evening before the hearing addressed the transfers. “But in our respectful submission … it unfortunately raises more questions than it answers.”
Of particular concern was “discrepancies in the records concerning the value of land transferred to EREA”.
Financial records for the Christian Brothers and Edmund Rice Education Australia seen by the Financial Review differ in their valuation of the land because both marked their value at the time of transfer, with no subsequent adjustment for surging land prices.
The Christian Brothers has for 150 years run schools and orphanages across Australia. These were the site of some of Australia’s worst institutional child sexual abuse cases, a factor that has already cost the Catholic order some $600 million in legal fees and payments to victims.
Survivors were blindsided last week when the order proposed a creditor scheme of arrangement, in which its remaining assets would be sold to make a partial settlement to victims. A failure to pursue such a scheme, victims were told, would leave it vulnerable to sudden bankruptcy, with worse outcomes for all involved.
At a hearing at which the order sought a moratorium on existing abuse cases while the scheme was implemented, plaintiff lawyers for at least 243 creditors largely withdrew their earlier opposition. A moratorium was granted by Justice Scott Nixon “to preserve the opportunity for the schemes to be considered”.
Plaintiff lawyers are pressing the Christian Brothers to appoint another defendant to take over its cases and existing liabilities. Justice Nixon was reluctant to make decisions on this point without hearing from EREA.
Previously, EREA has opposed a request from the Christian Brothers for financial assistance to meet its liabilities, arguing that doing so “would raise significant governance, fiduciary and regulatory issues and could be inconsistent with the funding and not-for-profit regulatory frameworks”.
In New Zealand, where the Christian Brothers retain ownership of the grounds of Christchurch’s prestigious St Thomas of Canterbury College, the school board told parents this week that it would legally oppose the Christian Brothers’ request to sell its land and buildings to pay abuse victims. “Whether this goes ahead is a matter for the courts, but the school board will oppose this request,” said principal Steve Hart.
The Australian Catholic Bishops conference has also declined to make funds available. “It is the great hope of the conference that the Christian Brothers find a way to support the provision of care for victims of abuse that occurred in institutions conducted by the Christian Brothers,” Perth archbishop and conference president Timothy Costelloe said in a statement.
Mirzabegian used her appearance to inform survivors of the continued availability of the National Redress Scheme, which offers capped compensation paid by the government then billed to the institution under which it occurred. This mechanism makes the Commonwealth one of the creditors to the Christian Brothers.
“Irrespective of the moratorium order being made … I wanted to assure survivors who are in court [that] the Commonwealth is committed to considering all valid applications that are lodged by the application closure date, that is 30 June 2027.”