Commonwealth Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse

Today saw the introduction of two bills to the House of Representatives (Federal):

• Commonwealth Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Bill 2017
• Commonwealth Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2017

The explanatory memorandum for the two bills is available online.

Drawing from that explanatory memorandum:

• The Scheme will provide three elements of redress to eligible survivors of institutional child sexual abuse: a monetary payment of up to $150,000 may be provided as tangible recognition of the wrong survivors have suffered, survivors will receive access to counselling and psychological services and the Scheme will facilitate a direct personal response from responsible institutions at the request of a survivor.
• The Scheme will commence on 1 July 2018 and will operate for a period of 10 years.
• The Bill sets out the objects and principles under which the Scheme will operate,including the requirements for participating institutions (that is, Commonwealth institutions as well as Territory and non-government institutions that choose to opt into the Scheme).
• A person will be eligible for redress under the Scheme if the person was sexually abused as a child in an institutional setting and a Commonwealth institution is primarily or equally responsible, or where it occurred in a Territory or outside Australia and a participating institution was primarily or equally responsible for the abuse.
• The sexual abuse must also have occurred prior to the 1 July 2018, the date of the Scheme’s commencement.
• If the Scheme establishes that a person suffered sexual abuse, any non-sexual abuse related to the child sexual abuse will also be taken into consideration for the purpose of determining the amount of the monetary payment that the person is entitled to receive.
• The cost of providing redress for the abuse of each person for which an institution is responsible will be based on a proportionate share of the total amount of redress paid to each person.
• Entitlement to redress is dependent on a person making a claim under the Scheme. However, applicants may only make one claim over the period of the Scheme.
• A person who accepts an offer of redress will be required to release all the participating institutions determined by the Operator to be responsible for the sexual abuse from liability for the sexual, and related non-sexual, abuse that is within scope of the Scheme.
• A review of the operation of the Scheme will commence as soon as possible after the eighth anniversary of the cut-off day or earlier if the rules prescribe such a review. However, the review cannot occur within the first two years of the Scheme.
• Amendments to the Social Security Act 1991 and the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 will ensure the payments are not income tested, and so will not reduce the income support payments of survivors who receive payments under the Scheme.
• In addition amendments are made to Bankruptcy Act 1966 to ensure payments are quarantined from the divisible property of a bankrupt. These amendments have been included to ensure a survivor will receive the full benefit of their redress payment, and to ensure that a survivor is not adversely affected by the receipt of the redress payment.
• This Bill with also exempt decisions made under the Scheme from judicial review under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977. This amendment will ensure the Scheme remains survivor focused and trauma informed by maintaining the principles that the Scheme be a low threshold and non-legalistic process for survivors who have already suffered so much. These amendments are essential to implement the Scheme’s policies and to ensure timely and appropriate decision making.