The OoSG started 2025 with a focus on personal injury law as it related to harm allegedly caused by historic abuse. On 22 January senior Diocesan leaders attended a presentation from the Senior Partner and Chairman of Makinson d’Apice Lawyers.

In late February the Diocese appeared in the NSW Court of Appeals as the appellant (‘AA v Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle’), which resulted in a 3:0 judgement that the Diocese was not liable for the alleged abuse. ‘AA’ appealed to the High Court of Australia which agreed to hear the case. On 7 August a full bench of the High Court heard the appeal. As of 28 November, the High Court’s judgement remains pending.

Throughout the year the Director and members of the OoSG represented the Diocese in multiple interagency safeguarding fora including:

• participation in the review of Australian Catholic Safeguarding Ltd.;
• participation in the Department of Community & Justice complex case discussions;
• attendance at quarterly consultative meetings with the Office of Children’s Guardian (OCG) reportable conduct directorate;
• membership of and attendance at Catholic Schools NSW Child Protection & Safeguarding Network;
• participation in NAIDOC week march and celebrations;
• membership of and attendance at the Professional Standards Inter-Denominational Network NSW & ACT;
• membership of and attendance at the NSW-ACT Catholic Safeguarding Community of Practice;
• participation in the OCG’s development of guidelines for ‘handling historical reportable allegations’; and
• consultation with and attendance at the triennial National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC) Assembly.

The OoSG continued its focus on providing Diocesan workers educational and professional development opportunities in relation to safeguarding. Apart from the cyclical online and ‘live’ safeguarding training that staff are obliged to complete, the two most important gatherings are the Promoters of Safeguarding Network (PSN) days for parishes and the Schools Safeguarding Network (SSN) meetings.

The OoSG continued to host the biannual PSN days, offering an opportunity for parish promoters of safeguarding and parish leaders to be provided the latest developments in safeguarding. PSN days were held on 6 June and 8 September, which included an online panel presentation led by Archbishop Mark Coleridge and an in-depth presentation from the Seniors Rights Service.

The OoSG also hosted two Schools Safeguarding Network meetings on 28 May and 18 September, providing school-based promoters of safeguarding and school leadership focused information on safeguarding developments, including presentations on managing disclosures of abuse, effective reporting to DCJ, managing local administrative inquiries, managing habitual absences of students and addressing low level boundary breaches.

National Child Protection Week 2025 saw another outstanding level of engagement within the Diocese and the ‘Decorate Your Space’ competition brought out highly original and artistic expressions of this year’s theme, “Every conversation matters – Shifting conversation to action.”

The OoSG was established in 2019 by an ecclesiastical decree from the late Bishop Bill Wright. The ‘provisions’ (mandate and powers) of the OoSG was designed in the aftermath of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, to ensure the failings of the past would not reoccur and help rebuild trust with the community. Six years later the OoSG was due for a review, in light of a Diocese with an increasingly sophisticated Curia and maturity in relation to safeguarding culture and practice.

With the guidance and advice of former NSW Assistant Ombudsman Julianna Demetrius, 2025 has seen the OoSG undergo a change process designed to set it up to meet the evolving needs and challenges of the Diocese into the 2030s, to work closer with other services in the Diocese and to ensure succession planning is in place for the Director of Safeguarding. The change process is designed to ensure that the OoSG’s core business is the focus of its work, to be achieved within the necessary fiscal restraints placed on all areas of the Diocesan Curia. The OoSG will continue to:

• provide intake and ensure statutory reporting is undertaken;
• conduct administrative inquiries of the more serious complaints;
• work with schools and parishes to undertake safeguarding compliance checks;
• provide safeguarding training to thousands of workers;
• undertake the more complex, longer term safety planning;
• manage the Diocese’s portfolio of personal injury claims alleging harm from historic abuse; and
• fulfill the Diocese’s obligations to the National Redress Scheme as a participating institution.

The OoSG’s new internal structure will operate from 5 January 2026.