Controversial Proposal to Compensate Abusers Who Also Were Victims

By Miles Kemp
The Advertiser
January 25, 2018

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Some of the state’s worst paedophiles would be compensated for themselves being victims when they were children under a radical scheme proposed by the Victims of Crime Commissioner.

In his submission to legislation dealing with the fallout from the Royal Commission into child abuse in institutions, commissioner Michael O’Connell says their plight as abused children cannot be ignored.

“Redress is not about their crime (as an adult) but rather about their victimisation as children,’’ Mr O’Connell states in a submission he provided to The Advertiser.

“The redress scheme cannot be truly just, fair and equitable if some kinds of victims are ineligible.

“All (child) victims should count, including those who later became offenders.

“No child should ever experience that which inquiry after inquiry, victim story after victim story, have revealed happened”.

The controversial statements will reignite what the federal and state governments last year described as the “agonising” decision to exclude those victims who had gone on to abuse others.