Anglican Synod meets to decide which churches must go

THE Anglican Diocese of Tasmania 2018 Synod has been told redress scheme bills will start rolling in quickly from July 1 and the church needs to be ready.

Anglican Bishop of Tasmania, the Right Reverend Richard Condie releases a list of preliminary properties to be considered for sale as part of the Church’s proposal for funding Redress. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

THE Anglican Diocese of Tasmania 2018 Synod has been told redress scheme bills will start rolling in quickly from July 1 and the church needs to be ready.

The Synod will later today vote on its controversial Redress Fund Ordinance which governs the sale of church assets — including more than 70 places of worship — to pay for those commitments.

The sale of the 108 properties on the proposed list is expected to raise almost $19 million of which $4 million will go towards the redress scheme.

The rest will go to the new ministry development fund and back to the parishes from which the assets have been sold.

The church is expected to pay out $6.4 million within three years of the Redress Scheme opening on July 1 with another $2 million in claims to come after that.

“We need to move quickly and decisively. Bills will start rolling in and we need to be ready. We can’t be making decisions as these bills come in,” said general manager James Oakley.

“We need to act on reason and evidence.”

The vote on the Redress Fund Ordinance is due to take place later this morning, which

will decide if the 108 properties on a proposed list released in April will go on the market.

“We wanted a light touch on ministry and allow it to continue in Tasmania,” Mr Oakley said.

“We don’t want to see areas of devastation. Our wealth is not in cash but in real estate.”

The Synod was told the Diocese of Tasmania ran a very tight financial ship and the pain needed to be shared across the state.

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