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Tuesday 27 May 2025
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Abuse survivor calls for change Brodie Cowburn brodie@baysidenews.com.au
Call for change BRIAN Cherrie survived child sexual abuse. He is now calling for liability laws to be changed to allow survivors to access justice. Picture: Gary Sissons
A CHILD sexual abuse survivor is calling for new laws to hold organisations to account for abuse that occurs under their watch. Frankston resident Brian Cherrie was sexually abused as a child living at the Salvation Army children’s home in Box Hill in the early 1960s. He said he has suffered lifelong effects from the abuse, which occured when he was just 11-years-old, and is now dedicated to helping other victims. “I’m a forgotten Australian abused in a children’s home,” Cherrie said. “Now I run a Facebook group petitioning to get a Royal Commission which has 2500 members, most of them people that were abused growing up.” Late last year the High Court overturned the Victorian Supreme Court’s ruling that the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat was vicariously liable for the sexual abuse of a young boy. The man who sued the diocese was originally awarded $230,000 damages by the Victorian Supreme Court. Cherrie says that changes to vicarious liability laws are needed to hold organisations to account for sexual abuse and allow victims to access compensation. He said “what my fight is for is justice for everyone. It’s very hard, and it’s been going on for a long time because there is so much money being thrown around to challenge everyone. “The government can change the law and they need to do it soon. I’ve been doing work for a lot of years, and
now they need to get a move on.” In the case of Bird vs DP 2024, the High Court’s finding read “this is the first time this Court has been asked to consider whether, absent a relationship of employment between a wrongdoer and a defendant, a diocese or a bishop may be held vicariously liable for the unlawful actions of a priest who sexually abuses a child. That, in turn, raises the question whether a relationship of employment is a necessary precursor – or a threshold requirement – to a finding of vicarious liability. “The position in Australia is that an employer may be vicariously liable for the acts of its employees, but there is no such liability for the acts of those who are not in an employment relationship but, instead, are, for example, independent contractors or in a relationship ‘akin to employment’.” Cherrie said the High Court’s decision was “ridiculous”. “For the High Court to rule like this is absolutely absurd. People’s lives can really depend on this,” he said. Earlier this month, Legalise Cannabis Party MP Rachel Payne introduced legislation to close the “loophole” to Victorian Parliament. The Bill was not supported by the state government or opposition. Payne said “right now, victim survivors can’t seek financial compensation from many institutions such as churches and sporting clubs, because their perpetrator was not legally an ‘employee’, but instead classified as a volunteer or spiritual counsellor. The High Court said loud and clear that it was the job of parliament to fix the law and hold these institutions to account.” Continued page 5