Child sex abuse redress scheme finally gives survivors the respect they deserve
Posted
The Federal Government's announcement it will set up a national redress scheme for survivors of abuse is much-needed and long overdue.
The announcement that a federal redress scheme will be up and running by 2018 is a profoundly welcome step in making amends to the thousands of institutional abuse survivors and their families let down by both institutions and governments.
But to say that it is long overdue is an understatement, particularly considering it's been well over a year since the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse handed down its recommendations on redress and civil litigation.
The royal commission made 99 recommendations aimed at "providing justice to victims of child sexual abuse in institutions".
This included that a single national redress scheme be established and announced by the end of 2015, to be "established and ready to begin inviting and accepting applications from survivors by no later than 1 July 2017".
The royal commission made clear that the early resolution of redress and justice was critical "to give survivors and institutions more certainty on these issues and enable governments and institutions to implement our recommendations to improve civil justice for survivors as soon as possible".
It's only now with less than a year to go until the royal commission's recommended application deadline that we at last have some certainty about the Government's response to the recommendations for a redress scheme.
And while it won't come into effect until 2018, at least on the information we have so far, the proposed scheme is heading in the right direction.
It will offer financial compensation up to $150,000, psychological counselling and a direct personal response from the institution to individual abuse survivors should they want it.
Importantly, the Government will establish an independent advisory council of survivor advocates and appropriate experts to help in the implementation of the scheme.
All of this is a welcome first step.
Government leadership 'critical'
We are yet to see however, the full details of the scheme's planned implementation.
It is critical that in delivering this that other recommendations made by the royal commission are also incorporated wherever possible to ensure a truly effective scheme for survivors, noting that there is still much work to be done by governments and institutions in responding to these.
This includes a need for the Federal Government to now show leadership in urging the states to adopt a nationally consistent approach to the lifting of limitation periods for abuse claims.
Some states, to their credit, have already made progress on addressing this injustice as recommended by the royal commission, including Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland.
The remaining states however are still yet to do so, and the Federal Government must play a role in ensuring this is addressed.
It is critically important also that the Federal Government show leadership in not only ensuring genuine participation in any redress scheme by states and institutions, but in making sure that institutions in particular cannot hide behind a redress scheme to avoid meeting their obligations to abuse survivors.
This again was as area highlighted by the royal commission, which recommended that governments and institutions that receive civil claims for abuse should adopt guidelines for responding appropriately to these.
This is a critical step that is badly needed to ensure a fair go for survivors — only recently our firm saw evidence first-hand of an institutional defendant advising that compensation would not be forthcoming in the absence of a redress scheme.
Such behaviour is appalling and cannot be tolerated — survivors deserve better.
It is important too that the recommendation of the royal commission ensure no fixed closing date for redress is also implemented in introducing a federal scheme, as well as measures to act on the commission's recommendation that any scheme should also fund support services and community legal centres to assist applicants in applying for redress.
Both recommendations are central to ensuring that the needs of survivors going through a redress scheme are properly supported.
Until now, the national effort to ensure a redress scheme is implemented as a priority has been haphazard at best, with most of the heaving lifting left to the states.
It is therefore a relief to now at last see national leadership to finally deliver a fair and consistent redress scheme for all abuse survivors.
Survivors and support groups who have advocated for a redress scheme for months have at last been freed from being left in limbo.
The implementation of a federal redress scheme, that genuinely addresses past injustices in a fair and meaningful way, is a significant step forward in providing long-awaited access to justice for survivors.
Michelle James is a Principal at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers and head of the firm's Abuse Practice.
Topics: sexual-offences, royal-commissions, government-and-politics, federal---state-issues, child-abuse, australia
