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Some of Australia’s most elite schools will help to pay hundreds of victims of clerical sexual abuse after reaching a deal with the Christian Brothers, which had said it would be broke in months.
Documents obtained by this masthead showed the Christian Brothers had previously transferred some of its most valuable colleges and properties to a separate trust, Edmund Rice Education Australia, for just $1 each.
In Victoria, the transfers of prestigious St Kevin’s College in Toorak, Geelong’s St Joseph’s College and Parade College in Bundoora were all made in June 2015 – just three months before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse first recommended the Ellis Defence be dismantled. St Kevin’s has since broken away from Edmund Rice Education Australia.
Edmund Rice Education Australia announced on Friday it had agreed to a revised scheme that will compensate victims of historical sexual abuse claims in full.
“Today we are seeking to provide reassurance that we will step in to address future funding shortfalls,” EREA chair Stephen Brown said.
“We support a revised scheme because it is simply the right thing to do for victims and survivors to provide them a just and sustainable pathway,” he said.
The chair said the “complex arrangements” would take six to eight weeks to document before it was put to creditors to vote on, and the court needed to approve it.
Lawyers for the religious order told the NSW Supreme Court earlier this month it estimated it owed $774 million to survivors with current claims and ones that may be filed in future, but only had $216 million worth of assets.
Brown said the 61 schools run by Edmund Rice would continue to operate.
Lawyer Laird Macdonald from Rightside Legal said the Christian Brothers’ handling of the matter had exacerbated his clients’ trauma.
“Our clients have been through a very tough few weeks.
“The idea that the Christian Brothers were broke was always a farce. The attempt to shirk responsibility was disgraceful. We fought hard to keep them accountable, and today they have given up on this appalling plan.”
The Christian Brothers said in a statement it meant the educational organisation would settle with claimants but also it would “assume responsibility and liability for all current and future legal proceedings”.
It would also include those before the National Redress Scheme, the religious order said.
“The Trustees of the Christian Brothers thank EREA for engaging in this process and agreeing to a pathway which would provide a substantially better outcome for our creditors, including the victims and survivors of abuse.”
Earlier this month all sex abuse claims against the religious order in Australia were suspended after NSW Supreme Court Justice Scott Nixon found they would face financial ruin despite the property transfers.
The Catholic order was granted a moratorium which also gave survivors time to consider whether they would support a property sell-off by the Christian Brothers to raise funds or pursue other legal avenues.
A directions hearing will be held at a later date.
