CEO Allan Joy said cafs had made financial preparations in readiness for any claims. 

Mr Joy told The Courier the organisation is trying to clarify what the state government’s position is on the redress scheme, after it issued a press release in June 2018 saying $600 million would be made available for victims of abuse in state government institutions.

LOOKING FOR CLARITY

In a statement at the time, the office of the Attorney-General issued the following promise:

The Labor Government will allocate $600 million over the next ten years towards redress, ensuring that thousands of survivors of institutional child sexual abuse in government institutions can access financial payments, as well as counselling and a direct response from the organisation responsible for their abuse...

The national scheme is due to commence on 1 July 2018, subject to Commonwealth legislation being passed in the Federal Parliament. Following the passage of Commonwealth legislation, survivors will be able to seek redress in relation to Victorian government institutions and participating non-government institutions from that day.

Mr Joy says cafs is seeking clarity over whether the $600 million will be available to those from non-government institutions as well, as the wording is unclear.

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“They didn’t actually say they would put in their contribution, as well as the participating institution,” Mr Joy said.

“I think the Commonwealth expects them too, and that’s certainly what the advice we have says, but they (the state government) have never quite said in writing that they will contribute 50 per cent, like they do for settlement conferences, which is the process we’ve been to up to today.”

Mr Joy says having written to the Attorney-General seeking their position, they were told the caretaker mode provisions had come into place before the state election.

STAFF SENT FOR REDRESS TRAINING

Despite the impasse, cafs has sent staff for training in the National Redress Scheme, says Mr Joy.

He says the Readiness for Redress training is already well underway, and is being conducted by the Centre for Excellence and Child and Family Welfare.

“We just need to do the homework,” Mr Joy told The Courier. 

“I want to be able to recommend it to be the board, because we certainly support the scheme in principle.”

A feature of the National Redress Scheme is its lack of emphasis on legal outcomes, in order to expedite settlements.

NO IDEA OF NUMBERS WHO MAY CLAIM

Asked if cafs had any idea of the number of former children who might make applications for redress, Mr Joy said it wasn’t possible.

“Look, you don’t know what you don’t know,” he said.

“There hasn’t been an increase in claims over the period of the Royal Commission; we’re thought there would be, but there hasn’t. I’ve been involved in one settlement conference this year; and there’s one next week. So there’s only two or three a year, the numbers haven’t spiked. It may be there are people waiting for the redress  scheme, but we don’t know.

“If somebody comes here and they want to make a claim, we help them. We make their file available to them, or send it to their legal adviser. We certainly assist them if that’s what they want to do.”

The National Redress Scheme may be accessed at https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/

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