AUSTRALIA
Australian Associated Press
December 3, 2017
By Megan Neil
Advocates say some child abuse victims are receiving lower compensation from institutions than they would possibly get under a national redress scheme.
Some institutions are rushing to lock child sexual abuse survivors into accepting top-up damages payments before a national redress scheme comes into effect, advocates say.
A number of institutions are “herding people through” before the mid-2018 start of the federal government’s redress scheme, church abuse victims’ advocacy group Broken Rites spokesman Wayne Chamley says.
“Individual institutions are rushing to lock people in before national redress can occur,” he told AAP.
Dr Chamley said institutions like the Salvation Army are renegotiating top-up payments of settlements at amounts below what would be provided under the national redress scheme and locking victims in with a deed of release, stopping them bringing a civil claim in court.
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