On Thursday, in a landmark case that could open the floodgates even further, the Ballarat diocese also agreed to settle a multimillion-dollar lawsuit to a victim of notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale - the first civil matter in which the church admitted liability for the actions of a paedophile cleric. George Pell. Credit:Nine The deluge of claims has led to calls for the Andrews government to pump extra money into the legal system, so courts can hire more judges and staff to deal with cases of institutional abuse. “These traumatising delays need to be addressed at a government level to prevent further premature deaths and more suicides,” said Melbourne lawyer Judy Courtin, whose firm Judy Courtin Legal has already had three survivors die in about four months as they waited for justice. The government argues that its latest budget already includes $128.9 million to increase capacity in the courts, including a new Supreme Court judge, two new County Court judges and 18 new magistrates.

“Survivors of institutional abuse have already had to endure years of suffering and we’re doing everything we can to support them,” Attorney-General Jill Hennessy said. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Attorney-General Jill Hennessy Credit:AAP But some victims have been warned they may have to wait up to 15 months for a trial date. Others have learnt that long-awaited reforms allowing them to challenge unfair compensation payments they previously accepted will also take time, because they still have to apply to the courts to set aside their deed-of-release. These were agreements that forced victims to sign away their rights to take further legal action. Ultimately, it will now be up to the courts to decide if those deeds should be set aside at all. Loading “I’m 65 next month and don’t expect this to be dealt with until I’m 67,” said survivor Phil O’Leary, who was abused by a priest as a teenager and signed a deed-of-release in 2008 after receiving $40,000 from the Melbourne Archdiocese. “It’s just another layer of legislation that’s going to enrich lawyers while some of us have to wait even longer.”

The spike in legal action comes as survivors express increasing dissatisfaction with the National Redress Scheme, which has so far made only 512 payments out of 4800 applications, with the average payment around $79,700 - much less than the $150,000 maximum. Loading The federal government defended the scheme again this week, after its latest figures also showed that 44 Catholic institutions are yet to sign up, including the brothers of the Hospitaller Order of St John of God, which the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found to have the highest proportion of historic abuse among all the religious orders. Institutions have until the middle of next year to join the National Redress Scheme, but cannot be forced to take part. “The government has no constitutional power to compel institutions to sign up and we recognise the frustration survivors feel when institutions have not signed up despite being named in the royal commission. It is completely unacceptable,” a spokeswoman for Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said.