Government's redress scheme 'will not meet ongoing needs of trauma survivors'

By Charlotte King
ABC News
May 22, 2017

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-22/child-abuse-victims-sceptical-of-governments-redress-scheme/8546732

Ballarat community gathers for the 'loud march' in support of child sex abuse survivors.

Abuse survivor Tony Wardley after the Ballarat march.

Gabrielle Short and Wendy Dykof outside Nazareth House in Ballarat.

Gabrielle Short and Wendy Dykof nail their home-made message to a tree at Nazareth House in Ballarat

Ms Short says the official plaque does not tell the story of what it was like to live in the house.

Abuse survivors in Ballarat say they are concerned the Federal Government's planned redress scheme will not meet the ongoing needs of trauma survivors, and has ignored the lifelong impacts of non-sexual institutional abuse.

The Federal Government has set aside $33 million to establish the scheme, and has been working to convince states, territories and religious institutions to sign up before the planned rollout in 2018.

Over the weekend, around 150 survivors and their supporters marched through the regional Victorian city chanting "no more silence".

The community was marching for the third time in support of the city's child sexual abuse survivors.

Tony Wardley, who was sexually assaulted at three schools as a child, including the Christian Brothers' St Alipius boys primary school in the 1970s, said the Government's proposed scheme would not be life-changing.

"They're just trying to do what the Catholic Church has done with their Towards Healing; pay people off, get rid of them," he said.

"People who've had 40-50 years of a traumatic life, giving them a bit of cash and saying goodbye is not going to help them."

Mr Wardley said the march was "for the future".

"If we have well-balanced kids, you have well balanced adults," he said.

"If they haven't had the trauma, life's going to be better for them and everyone surrounding them."

Social Services Minister Christian Porter has indicated that the scheme would provide psychological counselling for abuse survivors.

But Mr Wardley said there was a need for general medical supports as well.

"And a fall-back if they need it — because the problem is ongoing," he said.

The Sisters of Nazareth are one of several religious orders who, under the banner of the Catholic Church, have agreed to opt into a national redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse.

Underneath the imposing towers of Ballarat's 19th century convent, Nazareth House, two elderly women nailed a homemade plaque into the trunk of an old tree.

Both Gabrielle Short and Wendy Dykof lived in the convent as girls in the 1960s.

The inscription on their plaque reads, "In memory of all the children who spent part of, or all of their childhood here at Nazareth House, Ballarat."

"If this tree could speak it would tell you about the horror and the brutality that was inflicted regularly upon innocent child residents, committed by the sisters of Nazareth."

Ms Short travelled from Queensland, and Ms Dkyof from Melbourne, to nail the message to the tree, which has been standing in a courtyard beside the convent since the girls played as children.

Above their message is the official plaque, placed by the order of nuns — the Sisters of Nazareth — who now run the institution as a nursing home.

It reads: "This plaque is in the memory of all the children who resided at Nazareth House Ballarat from 1889 to 1976. This tree forms a very important part of their playtime and their lives. "It doesn't tell the story."

Ms Short's former chaplain, Gerald Ridsdale, is due to be sentenced for a raft of charges later this year, including one charge of common assault against Ms Short at Nazareth House.

Ms Dykof did not want to go into detail, but said along with physical and emotional assault her abuse, in a range of Catholic institutions, was also sexual.

"The trauma still impacts today," she said.

Ms Short said there was a wider concern that the Government's compensation scheme completely excluded victims of physical and psychological abuse.

'We've fought for years, and it was always all forms of abuse; we didn't … pick out one abuse," she said.

"And then the Victorian inquiry came, and that was fantastic … we had people spill their hearts out, they gave testimony, and the terms were all forms of abuse.

"Whereas the terms of the royal commission are just sexual abuse.

"How are they going to work that out? When it comes to the Victorian state wards, and other survivors, how will they be addressed?

"It's pain, suffering, your head's getting banged against the walls, slapped across the face, heads rubbed into your urine on the wet beds.

"How does a child grow up normal? How can your mind be normal? How can you ever trust anybody?

"So all these people have issues too."