The New South Wales Supreme Court has ordered a moratorium on all abuse claims against the Christian Brothers, a Catholic order central to Australia's child sexual abuse scandal, as concerns mount over potentially inappropriate property transfers that could leave survivors without compensation.
Court Halts Claims Amid Financial Concerns
Justice Scott Nixon on Thursday granted the moratorium, which halts all civil claims against the Christian Brothers. The order sought the moratorium, claiming it was going broke and proposing a scheme to sell its remaining 36 properties, valued at $216 million, to distribute proceeds among creditors, including abuse survivors. The Christian Brothers estimates it owes $774 million to survivors with current or future claims.
The moratorium will give survivors time to consider whether to support the proposal. Without it, Justice Nixon said the opportunity to consider the scheme would be lost. The Christian Brothers has warned that if the scheme is not supported, the order will go into liquidation, and survivors will likely receive even less.
Property Transfers Under Scrutiny
Significant concerns have emerged about the Christian Brothers' transfer of property—including land, school buildings, and homes around former school sites—to Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) over the past decade. Property records show these transfers were made for $1 each, even for multimillion-dollar homes in Sydney. EREA, named after the order's founder, was established as an independent entity in 2007 to take over Christian Brothers schools.
In court, Sera Mirzabegian SC, representing the Commonwealth, said the federal government was “concerned to ensure that institutions take responsibility for abuse [and] that they provide appropriate compensation.” She highlighted particular concerns about “historical asset transfers between the Christian Brothers and EREA” and whether they were “proper and appropriate.” She stated it would be “obviously disturbing” if the transfers resulted in assets not being available to compensate survivors.
Discrepancies in Evidence
The court heard that the Christian Brothers provided 15 pages of evidence about the nature of the property transfers. However, Mirzabegian said the evidence contained significant “discrepancies,” including regarding the value of the transferred land. “What is abundantly clear from that evidence is that it unfortunately raises more questions than it answers,” she said.
A Christian Brothers spokesperson previously told Guardian Australia that the property was transferred as part of a slow, progressive process of turning over school land and property to EREA, delayed by the “complexity of transferring individual titles across multiple jurisdictions.”
Survivors React to Moratorium
The moratorium has drawn mixed reactions from survivors and advocates. Some express concern that the process may delay justice, while others see it as an opportunity to ensure a fair distribution of assets. The scheme proposed by the Christian Brothers would preserve the rights of creditors, including survivors, to pursue assets transferred to EREA.
Support services are available for those affected. In Australia, children, young adults, parents, and teachers can contact Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831. Adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support on 0800 1111 for children and 0808 800 5000 for adults concerned about a child. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) supports adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International.
