THE national inquiry into child sexual abuse in institutions will make final recommendations on compensation for victims by June next year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In June, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse said there would be a two-year extension on its December 2015 deadline to produce its final report.
But it promised to make earlier recommendations on redress and civil litigation for the thousands of victims of abuse.
Last Friday, the Royal Commission chief executive Philip Reed said next year was the target date for those recommendations.
He said a week of private roundtable discussions would be held from September 1.
“In order to achieve this shortened timeframe, we are adopting an intensive consultation process involving both broad public consultation and targeted private consultation,” Mr Reed said.
Earlier this year, The Courier reported 17 institutions were named on Ballarat’s child sexual abuse survivors’ group submission to the Royal Commission.
Nine of the institutions were local, with another eight from around Victoria, where abuse allegedly took place.
Care Leavers Australia Network founder Leonie Sheedy said she feared waiting another year for the recommendations would be too late for many of the abuse victims.
“Our people are dying and they don’t have enough money to bury themselves,” she said. “We need charities and the church to set up a compensation for these people now to alleviate the anxiety and stress they endure. They deserve justice.”
Ms Sheedy said once recommendations for compensations were made they could take years to be implemented.
“They need to be given the opportunity to live with peace and the opportunity to die with dignity,” she said.
The redress submissions can be viewed online at childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au under issue papers.