Turnbull government yet to meet Catholic Church on abuse redress scheme

By Jane Lee
Sydney Morning Herald
October 27, 2015

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/turnbull-government-yet-to-meet-catholic-church-on-abuse-redress-scheme-20151027-gkjw5h.html

Francis Sullivan of the Catholic Church's Truth Justice and Healing Council. Photo by Rohan Thomson

The Turnbull government has not met the Catholic Church to discuss a national redress scheme for child abuse survivors, months before it will decide whether to establish such a scheme.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last month recommended the federal government set up a $4.01 billion redress scheme for 60,000 people sexually abused as children in institutions.

The commission's report - published on the day Malcolm Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott as Liberal leader - said the federal government should announce whether it will do so by the end of this year.

The Catholic Church is expected to be among the largest contributors, if not the largest, to compensation under the scheme. Francis Sullivan, chief executive officer of the church's Truth Justice and Healing Council, told Fairfax Media that he had not been able to meet Attorney-General George Brandis on the issue despite repeated requests this year.

He had also sought meetings with Mr Turnbull on the matter since he became Prime Minister.

"The inertia within the government has been particularly troubling ... major institutions who will need to participate in the scheme should be consulted at the early stage over its design," Mr Sullivan said.

"Given the age of some survivors, they haven't got the time to tolerate bureaucratic tardiness."

It comes as Opposition Leader Bill Shorten placed greater pressure on the government to act, pledging on Tuesday to introduce a $33 million national redress scheme "as soon as we are elected", including a national council of survivors and experts and psychological support.

Liberal and Labor state and territory attorneys-general have also, in an open letter, asked the government to announce whether it will establish and fund such a scheme as soon as possible.

Mr Sullivan said the Catholic Church could afford to pay what it estimated would be about $1 billion to survivors over the next decade. 

Survivors have called for an independent redress scheme, saying they were re-traumatised by the process and paltry sums offered under the church's existing internal compensation schemes Towards Healing and Melbourne Response.

The royal commission recommended that churches, schools and other institutions where abuse occurred would bear most of the cost of compensation, while federal, state and territory governments should cover about 15 per cent, or $613 million, of the shortfall.

The federal government has previously rejected a national scheme, with the Government Solicitor telling the commission it would be too complex and require too many resources. It is understood the government is reluctant to pay a share of the institutions' costs, with its "starting position" that the institutions, states and territories, rather than the federal government, owed a legal duty to survivors.

Mr Sullivan said the Catholic Church's proposal for a scheme would only require the federal government to administer the scheme, with any future shortfall funding covered by a levy on institutions' insurance premiums.

"The ball is clearly in the Prime Minister's court. The issue is crying out for political leadership," he said.

The leader of Survivors Network Against Priests Australia, Nicky Davis, said: "It's mystifying that the government seems to be acting as if they hope this issue will go away and they won't have to address it."

Many survivors believed that a proper redress scheme was necessary to ensure institutions prevented future abuse. SNAP agreed that the federal government should be funders of last resort for abuse that "happened under their watch", against its international legal obligations under the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

While abuse occurred at a state and territory level, the federal government "still has a responsibility to the children of Australia. It was known for decades they were being failed by (state) child protection systems," it said.

A spokesman for the Attorney-General said the government was still considering its position on the scheme and would consult with states and territories "before committing to a response".

Fairfax Media has been told that a staff member of the Attorney-General's department and a representative of his office met representatives of the Catholic Church before the commission's report. The source said the church had not requested further meetings.