TEREA chair Stephen Brown told Four Corners the trustees were now discussing the future governance of the organisation, describing the moment as "seminal". "Over the next 12, 18 months, the province of Christian Brothers in Australia will be out of the way or removed," he said. "We will define a narrative; we will define the governance structure that's appropriate for the schools in this country." Any change of this nature would require approval from the Vatican.
The Christian Brothers transferred school properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars to TEREA over nearly a decade, typically for free or for as little as a dollar. The entity oversees schools attended by 44,000 Australian students and received $732.7 million in taxpayer funding last year.
Relations have soured after the Christian Brothers applied in June to have all child abuse litigation against it stopped, citing imminent insolvency. The child abuse royal commission estimated that historically 22 per cent of Christian Brothers were alleged paedophiles. After initially resisting liability, TEREA agreed to take responsibility for current and future payouts under a revised compensation scheme.
In March, the order met with TEREA and requested $1.5 million a year to support its elderly members. Mr Brown said he was never told this could include paying for eight convicted paedophile brothers. "We will not be giving any money derived from the public purse," he said. "Parents of this country work hard … We will not be seeing any of that money being supportive of Christian Brothers who are paedophiles." TEREA rejected the request.
The Christian Brothers declined to answer Four Corners' questions about whether they had asked TEREA for this money. However, they stated that under a proposed scheme of arrangement, ongoing care of retired brothers would come from the sale of assets and "no taxpayer funds or school fees paid by parents will be used for the future care and living needs of any Christian Brother".