Earlier this week, Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten promised to set up a National Redress Scheme (the Scheme) for victims of child sexual abuse as recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Commission) in its final report on redress and civil litigation.

School Governance reported on the Commission’s final report earlier this year.

In an announcement Mr Shorten stated that if Labor were to be voted in at the next election, it would pledge $33 million to provide support and compensation to survivors of child sexual abuse in both government and non-government institutions.

The Commission’s proposal for redress

The Commission’s report recommended that a national redress scheme to compensate victims of abuse should be introduced and should include:

• a direct response from the responsible institution if desired, including but not limited to an apology;
• counselling and psychological care services; and
• a monetary payment between $10,000 and $200,000 per victim to recognise the wrong suffered (the size of each payment would be determined by criteria assessing the severity of the abuse).

A pledge of $33 million

Labor is pledging $33 million to fund the Scheme which was estimated to cost over $4 billion in the Commission’s final report. Of that money, $20 million will go towards the establishment of a National Redress Agency. This would be a federal body set up to provide ‘national leadership’ and to negotiate with State and Territory Governments and non-government institutions on the further costs of the compensation Scheme (a missing $3.7 billion).

The remaining $13 million would go towards compensating the estimated 60,000 eligible victims across the country.

The Commission and the Labor Government

It was the Labor Government who established the Commission to give thousands of people affected by child sexual abuse an opportunity to be heard and to identify changes that can be made in the future to improve institutions’ responses to child sexual abuse.

The Commission recommended that a national redress scheme be set up to allow equal access to all survivors, irrespective of whether the child sexual abuse occurred at a government or non-government institution or which State or Territory it occurred in.

In its final report, the Commission recommended a strict timeline for achieving an operational national redress scheme by 2017 and in his announcement, Mr Shorten stated he is certain that a Federal Labor Government could meet this deadline. At the time of publication there has been no response from the Federal Government.

A National Redress Agency and Advisory Council

The National Redress Agency proposed by the Shorten Labor Government would oversee the implementation of a national redress scheme and report to the Attorney General.

The Labor Government will also establish a National Redress Advisory Council to work with all State and Territory Governments on the development and operation of the Scheme. This Council would include representatives of:

• survivor advocacy and support groups;
• non-government institutions, particularly those that are expected to be required to respond to a significant number of claims for redress;
• people with expertise in issues affecting survivors and disabilities;
• people with expertise in issues of particular importance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island survivors; and
• people with expertise in psychological and legal issues relevant to survivors.

A portion of the $20 million of proposed Labor funding would be used to establish and support this Council.

Where will the other $3.7 billion come from?

Labor has stated that it plans to follow the Commission’s recommendation to call on institutions responsible for the abuse to fund the redress for survivors. Labor’s Families and Payments spokeswoman Jenny Macklin told The ABC the Commonwealth’s liability is likely to be very small and groups like churches and not-for-profit groups should pay the bulk of compensation.

She stated that ‘most Australians would agree that those who have been responsible for this outrageous abuse to children over many, many years should be held to account and pay the redress that people so desperately deserve.’

The Commission’s report states that non-government institutions, based on the Commission’s research, would be liable for $2.14 billion in compensation and State and Territory Governments would be liable for $1.87 billion. The Commission also recommended that Federal and State Governments set aside an extra $613 million for ‘funder of last resort’ funding which would be required when responsible institutions no longer exist or have no assets. Labor’s pledge did not directly address that recommendation.

The bottom line

The Labor Government’s establishment of a National Redress Advisory Council, Agency or Scheme all depends on whether they find themselves in power after the next federal election. The Opposition’s announcement has pre-empted any response from the current Federal Government which is still considering the Commission’s final report and recommendations. As mentioned in our previous article, the Federal Government already rejected the idea of a national scheme at first instance for being too complicated and too costly. Attorney-General George Brandis said ‘the Government is carefully considering the Royal Commission’s recommendations and will consult States and Territories before committing to a response’.

Meanwhile, survivors of institutional child sexual abuse are left with civil legal proceedings as their only option for compensation for the abuse they suffered and, as the Commission’s report revealed, these proceedings are often incredible trying on victims, being lengthy and extremely costly. Ultimately (and perhaps sadly), it is a political decision to detemine how any of the Commission’s recommendations will be recognised.