AUSTRALIA
Cairns Post
Megan Neil, Australian Associated Press
November 18, 2016
Compensation payments to people sexually abused as children by Catholic clergy in the Melbourne archdiocese are expected to surpass $31 million after the church doubled the maximum available payout.
The compensation cap under the church’s Melbourne Response scheme will rise from $75,000 to $150,000, putting it in line with the maximum payment under the federal government’s planned commonwealth redress scheme.
Past payments to abuse survivors under the much-criticised Melbourne Response, set up in 1996 by then Melbourne archbishop Cardinal George Pell, will be topped up if the victim would have received a higher offer had the new system been in force when their compensation was determined.
Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said the $15 million the archdiocese had paid in compensation under the scheme was expected to rise to $31.7 million under the new system, which brings in changes recommended in a review by retired Federal Court judge Donnell Ryan QC.
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