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No Redress Compensation for Victims of Horrific Physical Abuse, Campaigner Says

By Iskhandar Razak
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
June 15, 2018

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-15/redress-scheme-doesnt-help-all-abuse-victims-campaigner-says/9874576

PHOTO: Leonie Sheedy from CLAN was in an orphanage from age three. (Supplied: Cameron Best)

People who survived horrific child abuse in institutions will not get the justice and compensation they deserve under the national redress scheme because it only focuses on sexual crime, long-time campaigner Leonie Sheedy has said.

Victorian Attorney-General Martin Pakula announced the Andrews Government had committed up to $600 million to the redress scheme over the next decade for Victorian abuse survivors.

He said it was expected something in the order of 5,000 people were likely to come forward and seek compensation.

All the states and territories have committed to the redress scheme recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to compensate people who were sexually abused in state institutions.

The royal commission's report was released late last year after a four-year inquiry, and found tens of thousands of children had been sexually abused.

The Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Uniting Church and Salvation Army have also agreed to take part in the scheme.

Care leavers suffered too

But Leonie Sheedy, from Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN), said the number of children who suffered abuse was far higher but is not being recognised because the redress scheme is only for sexual abuse.

"Having your head put down a toilet and having it flushed on you, being made to eat your own vomit. Having wet sheets rubbed into your face," she said.

"Many care leavers bodies are ruined from the physical abuse that was meted out to them.

"Many people [who suffered both physical and sexual abuse] say that the sexual abuse was bad, but the humiliation, the beating, the being called a number, being separated from their families forever, that is far more hurtful and damaging to them than being sexually used."

She wants more done to address all forms of abuse children suffered.

"There are going to be many care leavers who were in Victorian orphanages, children's homes, missions and foster care, who are going to be excluded … because they weren't sexually abused but they suffered physically and psychologically," Ms Sheedy said.

"They are going to be feeling so hurt that their government does not understand."

Mr Pakula said the Government was not going to make state-specific changes to the scheme.

"Victoria is not in a position to unilaterally alter a nationally agreed scheme," he said.

"Other changes made by the Victorian Government, including the removal of the statute of limitations, apply equally to sexual and physical abuse."

Dredging up 'terrible crimes'

Mr Pakula said one advantage of the redress process was that it was easier for survivors to get justice and did not require people to relive their trauma through the court system.

"It is a low-barrier option, it has a much simpler standard of proof and process and I imagine many people will take it up," he said.

But Leonie Sheedy said the scheme would still be traumatic.

"There are 43 pages that need to be completed," she said.

"It is not simple and straight forward and they will still have to dredge up all those terrible crimes that were committed against them."

Prime Minister Malcolm will deliver a national apology on the issue of child abuse in October.

 

 

 

 

 




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