VIC Report Gives Victims Justice: Lawyers

9 News
November 12, 2013

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/11/13/13/07/vic-report-gives-victims-justice-lawyers

[the report]

Incorporating non-government bodies so they can be sued is a landmark recommendation from the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse, lawyers say.

Judy Courtin, a lawyer who is conducting research into sexual assault and the Catholic Church, says the recommendations contained in the inquiry report are extremely comprehensive.

"They address all the criteria for justice for victims and their families," she told AAP.

She said at the moment the Catholic Church did not exist as an entity so could not be sued.

The committee has recommended such bodies be incorporated or miss out on tax exemptions and government funding.

"I think that's a landmark recommendation," Ms Courtin said.

Lawyer Angela Sdrinis, who acts on behalf of victims, said the legislative reforms and removal of the statute of limitations were very important.

"Most historical abuse claimants face that defence that their claim is out of time," she said.

"The recommendations regarding ensuring that church entities can be sued in these cases of historical abuse is very important, but the recommendations regarding an alternative justice model are also very important."

Ms Sdrinis said very few of the hundreds, if not thousands, of claims made against the Catholic Church had succeeded because of two "almost impregnable" legal defences.

"The two important things for me as a lawyer representing people are the legislative reform and the abolition of the statute of limitations is obviously very important," she said.

The lawyers said they hoped the government would act quickly to take on the recommendations and not wait for the outcome of the federal royal commission into child sexual abuse.

"We've got to prevent more suicides and more harm and that's why the current government needs to act very, very quickly on these," Ms Courtin said.

Commission of Inquiry Now (COIN) advocacy group spokesman Bryan Keon-Cohen said it was a thorough and worthwhile report that had made valuable recommendations.

"(The recommendations) are, I think, a genuine attempt to come to grips with a difficult problem and an appalling history of neglect and abuse, particularly by the Catholic Church in Victoria," he said.