Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard ‘deeply concerned’ by Supreme Court ruling

Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has called on Australia’s attorneys-general to urgently consider how to provide justice for survivors of child abuse, after the Supreme Court ruled that a Catholic diocese was not liable for the historic sexual abuse of a young boy in Victoria .

Gillard, who set up the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2012, said she was “deeply concerned” by the High Court ruling.

The royal commission – widely regarded as one of the most important decisions of Gillard’s time as prime minister from 2010 to 2013 – lifted the lid on decades of child sexual abuse in Australian institutions.

But the Supreme Court sent shockwaves through survivor advocates last week when it overturned on appeal an earlier ruling by Victoria’s Supreme Court and Court of Appeal that found the Catholic Church’s Diocese of Ballarat was legally responsible for the misconduct of former priest Father Bryan Coffey.

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On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the relevant legislation did not provide a basis for imposing vicarious liability on the church, because the priest could not legally be considered an employee.

The diocese and its current bishop, Paul Bird, were sued in the Supreme Court of Victoria by a man who said he was sexually abused by Coffey at his parents’ home in Port Fairy in 1971. The man, known in court documents as DP, was five years old at the time of the abuse.

Coffey, who has since died, was given a three-year suspended sentence in 1999 after being convicted of charges including false imprisonment and indecent assault against men and women under the age of 16.

Last week, legal experts warned that the landmark decision could cast doubt on thousands of lawsuits against religious orders across the country. Other common law jurisdictions, including Great Britain, Canada and Ireland, have developed the principle of vicarious liability applicable to religious orders.