The Australian Greens are broadly supportive of the amendments contained in the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Amendment (Technical Amendments) Bill 2020. The Bill makes a series of important technical amendments to the operation of the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (Redress Scheme).
The majority of submissions were strongly supportive of a number of the provisions in the Bill, including:
the introduction of a strict liability offence that will apply to unauthorised use of the protected names and symbols used in relation to the Redress Scheme; and
provisions that allow the Scheme Operator to disclose protected information about a non-participating institution to encourage an institution to participate in the Redress Scheme.
However, there are further reforms we consider necessary.
Associates of participating institutions
Part 1 introduces changes to the way associates of participating institutions are determined, listed and described for notices and offers of redress. Under these changes, survivors are no longer provided with a full list of associates of participating institutions when they accept or reject an offer of redress.
As pointed out by knowmore in its submission:
Releasing institutions from future civil liability is a significant legal right that survivors are required to forego when accepting an offer of redress under the Scheme. It is therefore important for survivors to understand both the nature and consequences of this deed of release in order to make an informed decision about whether to accept or decline an offer of redress. This includes understanding which institutions they will be releasing from civil liability if they accept the offer of redress.
knowmore, Ryan Carlisle Thomas Lawyers and People with Disability Australia have all suggested alternative ways this information could be provided to survivors. For example, the Scheme Operator could allow survivors to request this information in writing, associates of participating institutions could be identified on the Redress Scheme’s website, or a full list could be provided to survivors earlier in the application process.
The Australian Greens will be monitoring the implementation of these changes to ensure that survivors continue to be provided with information about associates of participating institutions.
Funder of last resort provisions
Part 2 introduces provisions to allow more than one participating government institution to be declared as a funder of last resort.
knowmore expressed concerns in its submission that this could lead to further delays for survivors:
We urge the Scheme Operator and all participating government institutions to ensure that the process of identifying and declaring more than one funder of last resort for a defunct institution does not result in further delays for survivors. In our view, declarations should be made for defunct institutions as soon as possible after they are first named in an application.
The Australian Greens will be monitoring these amendments to ensure they do not result in additional delays for survivors.
Engaging independent decision-makers
Part 3 removes the need for ministerial approval of independent decision-makers and instead allows the Scheme Operator to appoint decision-makers. Some submitters supported this change because it may reduce delays experienced by survivors to receive a decision on their application.
However, Ryan Carlisle Thomas argued that devolving responsibility to the Scheme Operator does not provide sufficient scrutiny. Ryan Carlisle Thomas instead suggested that the number of independent decision-makers should be increased to manage any peaks in the number and complexity of applications.
The Australian Greens share concerns about the change from ministerial to departmental approval and will be closely monitoring the implementation of this process.
Conclusion
The Australian Greens echo the concerns raised in the inquiry about the implementation of these technical amendments to the Redress Scheme. We note that the second anniversary review of the Redress Scheme is currently underway. We will closely monitor recommendations made by that review and continue to push for future reform to ensure the Redress Scheme delivers justice for all survivors.