The State of Western Australia is appealing the entire basis of a judgement which awarded a Perth man nearly $3 million in compensation for abuse he suffered while he was in state care.

It is also appealing the amount that was awarded to Dion Barber, which has been described as the largest for a sexual abuse survivor in Western Australia.

A successful appeal would have major implications for other abuse survivors planning legal action.

Mr Barber suffered abuse while a ward of the state in the 1980s and 1990s, and at one point the WA Department of Community Services placed him with his mother and sexually abusive stepfather.

The abuse survivor, now in his forties, took legal action against the state over the harm he suffered at the hands of relatives and others while in state care, and

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