State governments forced to indemnify church bodies for child abuse due to insurance ‘market failure’

Exclusive: In Queensland alone, temporary agreements relating to 18 organisations guarantee to pay out survivors where institutions are financially unable to do so

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State governments are being forced to strike confidential deals granting taxpayer-funded indemnity to church bodies for child abuse after an inundation of survivors’ claims led commercial insurers to abandon religious institutions in droves.

In Queensland alone, the state government has now brokered temporary deals to offer indemnity for child abuse claims relating to 18 organisations providing out of home care and youth homelessness services, including Anglicare Southern Queensland and another four church or faith-based groups.

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