They are using all legal avenues and loopholes as any rational actor would. Whether that is right or wrong is another matter. They are also aware of moral hazar

They are using all legal avenues and loopholes as any rational actor would. Whether that is right or wrong is another matter. They are also aware of moral hazard and thus averse to settling and opening the floodgates of more lawsuits, which depending on future cases could severely impact the Catholic Church in Australia and even bankrupt it. The other issue the Catholic Church has to battle is adverse selection of priests, who can have access to a captive audience of young choirboys. It seems that prefer to kick the can down the road on that front and opt for vigorous legal defenses of lawsuits from sexually assaulted parties. This is not particular to the Catholic Church in Australia and seems to be pervasive everywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sexual_abuse_cases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sexual_abuse_c... Here is the South Park take on sexual molestations in the Catholic Church: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hot_Catholic_Love https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hot_Catholic_Love