Paul de Jersey accused of conflict of interest over role in sex abuse law review
Josh Robertson, ABC News
February 12, 2018
Queensland Governor, Paul de Jersey
Queensland Governor and former chief justice Paul de Jersey has come under fire for perceived conflict of interest over his role in a legal review 20 years ago that recommended maintaining legal limitations for child sex abuse claims.
Legal experts and abuse victims said a year before he became Queensland’s most senior judge, Justice de Jersey had a conflict of interest when he chaired crucial formative stages of the Queensland Law Reform Commission (QLRC) review that led the State Government to wait another 18 years before abolishing time limits on lawsuits.
A former Supreme Court colleague is among the judge’s critics, whose views support concerns raised privately by victims with the recently concluded Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.
The review on time limits for civil lawsuits, including child sex abuse claims, was handed down in September 1998.
Paul de Jersey served as Chief Justice of Queensland from 1998 to 2014.
At the time it was carried out, Justice de Jersey — then a Supreme Court judge — was chancellor (honorary legal adviser) to the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane, which was then facing a growing number of sex abuse complaints.
An expert on judicial ethics, Justice James Thomas told the ABC Justice de Jersey should never have held the role of church legal adviser while he was also a judge.