Since its establishment in 2018, the National Redress Scheme has made both a symbolic and practical contribution to the pursuit of justice by survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
The Scheme acknowledges the many children who were sexually abused, recognises their suffering, holds institutions to account, and helps survivors secure access to counselling, a direct personal response, and a redress payment.
But it remains obvious, including to this Committee, that the Scheme requires regular recalibration to meet the needs and expectations of both survivors and the wider community.
It is important to acknowledge the Scheme does not operate in isolation and its attractiveness as a redress resource is influenced by State legislative changes facilitating broader access to civil compensation.
The Committee’s observations have been echoed by Ms Robyn Kruk AO and the work undertaken in the Second Anniversary Review, published on 23 June 2021.
The report remarked that “significant momentum was lost before the Scheme formally commenced and awareness of its existence is now limited” but there remains “a strong and shared acknowledgement of and commitment among government partners to the need for change based on the experience of the past two years.”
The Committee also agrees with the Review findings that “the window for making meaningful changes to the Scheme is now extremely limited”.
The focus of this second interim report is to identify reforms that will have the greatest, most timely potential for improving survivor participation and experience, and to highlight the importance of increasing Scheme awareness and access among First Nations people.
But it is incorrect to say the Scheme is failing.
Thus far, 12,305 applications have been received, 7,093 offers made and 6,703 applications finalised. The 6,448 payments to survivors total approximately
$551.2 million, with the average Redress payment now approximately $85,481.
The work of this Committee has been pivotal in driving improvements to the Scheme.
Over the last year, Scheme reform has included encouraging institutions to join by removing tax concessions and Federal grants, legislating of $10,000 ‘advance payments’ to elderly and terminally ill applicants and expansion of the Funder of Last Resort provisions for defunct and financially incapable institutions.
However, the Scheme continues to be more complex to administer than originally envisaged.
This has been a recurring theme expressed by survivors and redress support service providers, and it cannot be ignored.
While the design of the Scheme gave careful consideration to the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, its lived experience has not reflected the Royal Commission’s predictions.
For example, it was estimated around 23 per cent of applications would name multiple institutions, whereas to date around 85 per cent have done so, with around 38 per cent naming four or more.
These more complex applications meant Scheme staff had a more challenging workload than anticipated, requiring greater investigation and follow up.
If one or more institutions named in an application was recalcitrant, progressing these applications became even more difficult.
This is not intended to be a poor reflection on the Royal Commission’s outcomes, but instead highlights the need for the Scheme to be dynamic enough to successfully serve the people it exists for, the survivors.
The work of this Committee has never lost sight of its primary purpose, to reassure survivors and their supporters that their voices are being heard – and, crucially, that their experiences are not being diminished by the passage of time.
I would like to finish by acknowledging the collegiate, non-partisan approach taken by all members of the Committee and their continued, genuine interest in all its operations.
Senator Dean Smith
Chair