High court decision to limit Catholic church abuse legal tactics to become law under NSW proposal

The Catholic church and other institutions used the passage of time to block survivors from having their cases heard by arguing a fair trial was no longer possible. Photograph: The Guardian

New South Wales parliament will consider a bill to further restrict churches and other institutions from using stay applications to prevent abuse survivors having their cases heard.

Last year, Guardian Australia revealed the widespread use of stay applications to permanently halt civil cases brought by survivors where perpetrators had died.