Fixing the National Redress Scheme

AUSTRALIA
The Saturday Paper

March 23, 2019

By Judy Courtin

Although I have worked with victims of institutional abuse and their families for more than 12 years, initially through my doctoral research into sexual assault and the Catholic Church and more recently as a lawyer, I could never have imagined the fall of George Pell. He was always untouchable – as archbishop, as the architect of the Melbourne Response, then as a cardinal. That is, he was Australia’s most powerful Catholic, perhaps ever.

The toppling of a senior Catholic cardinal for child sexual assault no doubt deserves media attention. But we cannot let the news itself suck the oxygen from other critical issues facing survivors. Namely, the uphill battle they continue to face in seeking fair redress for the abuses perpetrated against them.

Of course, these lion-hearted victims and their families have fought and won before. Without them, we would not have had the Victorian parliamentary inquiry and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, from which vital legal and other reforms have flowed.

There are two pivotal issues that must be urgently addressed. First, the National Redress Scheme for victims of institutional abuse, which was established in July 2018. It is reprehensible and must be changed.

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