Redress a ‘jail-free card’ for churches

NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)
AAP

March 30, 2020

By Heather McNab

A Christian minister has labelled the national redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse as a “get-out-of-jail-free card” for churches.

Pastor Bob Cotton has called for churches to be stripped of their tax-free status if they are not willing to accommodate their abuse victims.

The senior pastor at Maitland Christian Church in NSW says the redress scheme’s compensation cap of $150,000 is far too low and “everything is weighted far too heavily in the favour of the church”.

“To me, the redress scheme is almost a ‘get-out-of-jail-free card’ for the church,” Pastor Cotton told a federal parliamentary committee via teleconference on Monday.

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