For the reasons outlined in the committee's report, Labor Senators support the passage of the Bill.
However, there are long-standing problems with the implementation of the National Redress Scheme that the Government must address as a matter of urgency.
These issues have been investigated at length by the 45th Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on oversight of the implementation of redress related recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the 46th Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on Implementation of the National redress Scheme. The reports of these committees remain relevant and should be acted on by the Government.
Labor Senators call on the Government to take action to make sure the National Redress Scheme is delivering justice for survivors and properly reflects the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. This includes:
publicly naming institutions that do not sign up to the National Redress Scheme, and ceasing Commonwealth funding for institutions that do not sign up;
removing the charitable and tax deductibility status of institutions that do not sign up to the National Redress Scheme;
if an institution refuses to participate in the National Redress Scheme, deem them as participating, process claims and recoup the money through the tax system, or other means;
introducing an advance payment scheme for elderly and ill applicants, similar to the Scottish model;
ensure governments act as funders of last resort in all cases where defunct institutions do not have links to existing entities;
increasing the maximum payment to $200 000, as recommended by the Royal Commission;
ensuring prior payments are not indexed when calculating a Redress payment;
ensuring that prior payments which do not relate to institutional child sexual abuse are not deducted from Redress, including payments to the Stolen Generations;
guaranteeing that an offer of Redress will not be reduced if an applicant requests a review;
fixing the Redress Assessment Framework (the matrix) so that it properly recognises the impact of abuse when calculating redress payments, as recommended by the Royal Commission; and
ensuring adequate ongoing psychological support, as recommended by the Royal Commission, not just one-off payments.
Labor Senators also call on the Government to reduce delays associated with the Scheme and ensure it can be easily accessed by all eligible people, including people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; First Nations Australians; people with disability; and those in regional and rural areas.
Labor Senators also call on the Government to address privacy breaches in the National Redress Scheme, as survivors must be able to trust that the process is safe and will not re-traumatise them.
Currently, just 3826 Redress payments have been made to survivors – at this rate, it would take around 35 years for the 60 000 people estimated by the Royal Commission to be eligible for Redress to receive a payment. The Government must do more to ensure survivors have confidence that the National Redress Scheme will deliver justice.
Senator Malarndirri McCarthy