The Current Risks and Challenges Facing Religious Institutions – 3 program on-demand webinar series
Date/Time
21/10/2022
About the webinar series
As the last 12 months have shown, religious institutions face a raft of key legal risks and challenges. In this 3-part webinar series, leading experts in the field examine how religious institutions can meet these challenges head-on and ensure best practice responses. It includes standalone sessions on trends and recent cases involving reopened settled abuse claims, legal and spiritual obligations when faced with family violence, as well as the role of cyber security in religious institutions.
TEN The Education Network’s October 2022 annual law of religious institutions conference provided guidance on a range of topical issues for religious institutions presented by some of Australia’s top religious law experts. We’ve chosen some of the best sessions delivered at the conference and packaged them into this 3 program on-demand webinar series.
We’re doing some editing at the moment and expect to have the series ready for reviewing by mid-November 2022.
The Programs
Program 1: Reopening Settled Abuse Claims: Trends and Recent Cases
Recent developments across the country have made it easier for plaintiffs to set aside previous settlements and proceed with further claims for damages. This session examines recent trends and their lessons for religious institutions, including:
- When can a plaintiff proceed with further claims for damages for a previously settled case? A look across the jurisdictions
- The church as a separate legal entity – what is the correct position?
- The Victorian experience – abolishing the ‘Ellis defence’ and church immunity
- Church insurers in financial trouble – the future of civil action against the church
- Revisiting Royal Commission findings – its influence on future claims
- Is pre-litigation negotiation non-existent now and should it be?
- Lessons from recent cases
Program 2: Responding to Family Violence
Faith based organisations have obligations as employers, and generally and spiritually to the church community. How far this obligation extends legally in relation to family violence is examined in this session. It includes:
- Understanding and identifying the differing forms of family violence
- Family violence and the church – the extent of current legal obligation
- Where legal obligation and church loyalties conflict - the correct and only path
- Church support for victim and perpetrator – is this an inherent conflict scenario?
- The role of church leaders in responding to the crisis
- Developing church policies and procedures to deal with family violence
Program 3: Cyber Safety and Religious Institutions
Cyber safety and security has emerged as a major issue in the workplace, and religious institutions are not immune. How this should be handled in the religious institutions sector is examined in this session, including:
- Who would attack a religious institution? – The reality of risk
- Understanding the life cycle of a data breach
- Identifying where things can go wrong in your organization
- Governance and cyber-security – role of board
- Setting up the cyber-safety response plan – some key essentials:
- multi – facto authentication
- classifying data
- educating employees and volunteers
- developing cyber security skills training
- data access and restriction
- case study – privacy law and data breach response check list
Presented By
Luke Geary
Partner, Mills Oakley Brisbane, QLDEustacia Yates
Simone Herbert-Lowe
Director, LawEnquiries/Assistance
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