Up to 60,000 Australian survivors of child sex abuse could receive monetary compensation through a national redress scheme if Labor wins the next federal election.
Labor will set aside A$33million for the creation of a scheme.
This is aimed at offering counselling services and compensation for survivors of institutional child sex abuse.
The agency would report to the federal attorney general.
There would be three broad goals for the national scheme:
- The chance for survivors to receive a direct personal response from their abuser or the institution that housed their abuser
- Monetary compensation for the abuse suffered
- Counselling and psychological support that is accessible through the course of their lives.
The redress scheme Labor is proposing is essentially that recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
As many as 60,000 people could be eligible for between A$10,000 and A$200,000 in compensation, a report by the royal commission found.
The average compensation payment will be A$65,000.
The cost of redress should be met by the perpetrators of abuse, the commission stated. A figure of $A4billion overall was suggested.
The Commonwealth and state and territory governments should only step in to pay as a last resort.
Australian Opposition leader Bill Shorten said “Labor established the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse to give the thousands of people affected by these evil crimes an opportunity to finally be heard. “
“But we always knew this would only be the start of the process of healing,” his statement said.
The Australian federal government has yet to respond to the royal commission’s final recommendation on redress handed down three months ago.
Chief executive officer of the Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, said Labor’s announcement was the first concrete commitment from a political party, state or federal, to the royal commission’s redress proposals.
“Unfortunately it is our current elected representatives that need to be making commitments to a redress scheme,” Mr Sullivan said.
Sources