Federal Government's Refusal to Set up National Fund for Child Sex Abuse Victims Criticised by Commissioner

The Guardian
March 24, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/mar/25/governments-refusal-to-set-up-national-fund-for-child-sex-abuse-victims-criticised-by-commissioner

Purple ribbons were tied to the gates of Knox Grammar School in Sydney as a tribute to victims of abuse. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

The federal government’s refusal to establish a national compensation scheme for child sex abuse victims is disappointing, Justice Peter McClellan, the royal commissioner, has said.

In an opening address on Wednesday to a public hearing into redress for abuse survivors, McClellan said it was disappointing that the approach most likely to ensure a “just, fair and consistent outcome for all victims” was not supported by the Commonwealth.

The hearing before a full bench of six commissioners has received submissions from governments and institutions as well as support groups for victims, and has invited them all to speak.

Six governments, including the federal government, declined the invitation to speak.

In a two-and-a-half page submission, the Commonwealth said a national scheme was unworkable.

McClellan said while the commission’s terms of reference suggest the need for effective redress has been “accepted by all governments”, the national scheme overwhelmingly supported by survivor advocacy and support groups did not have Commonwealth support.

He said the commissioners welcomed the federal government’s view that institutions “must accept the legal, financial and moral responsibility for failing to protect children”.

The Commonwealth would accept responsibility for any children not protected while in its care, but rejected a national scheme because of the “complexity, time and resources” required to set it up.

McClellan said it was also clear from the Commonwealth’s submission that it did not support an expansion of the public provision of counselling and psychological care for survivors “other than through improving survivors’ awareness of existing services and their confidence in those services”.

He pointed out that the commission’s consultation paper published in January concluded that the ideal position would be a single national redress scheme, led by the federal government, with the participation of state and territory governments.

The paper also noted that if the governments did not support it, the ideal position would be difficult to reach.

Some states have supported a national scheme and the Catholic and Anglican churches have said they would back it.