Identifying institutions failing to join the National Redress Scheme is the main issue facing a House of Representatives Joint Select Committee, its chair says.
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The Joint Select Committee on the Implementation of the National Redress Scheme (NRS), set up to assist and provide financial support to those surviving institutional child sexual abuse, has tabled its first interim report, noting there are still significant concerns for survivors, including a low rate of applications for redress.
The report found 'Survivors and redress advocacy groups indicate that significant reforms are required across the breadth of the NRS process to ensure that the NRS fulfils its mandate whilst doing no harm.'
'Adequate, timely access to counselling and psychological care services, including specialist financial counselling, for survivors continues to be of significant concern to the Committee, especially for survivors requiring culturally appropriate support, or those who reside in regional and remote areas,' the report found.
In other words: do more, and do it sooner.
The NRS was set up under an act of parliament in 2018 on the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse report.
The committee draws members from all parties, and is chaired by Liberal senator for Western Australia Dean Smith. Senator Smith acknowledged the amount of work still to be done addressing the needs of survivors.
"Time is now the enemy of many survivors," he said.
"With the Second Anniversary Review rapidly approaching it is important to produce an Interim Report to highlight priority issues and inform the direction of the Review. It also tells survivors that their experiences have not been forgotten and the issues they have identified will be front and centre as the Scheme evolves over the next twelve months."
Among 14 recommendations listed in the interim report, there are questions over the:
- Appropriateness of the requirement for survivors to sign a deed of release when accepting redress payments, restricting any future compensation claim through civil courts;
- Appropriateness of indexing prior payments;
- Appropriateness of the current cap and matrix for calculating redress payments.
High priority reforms are also needed in the following areas, the reports recommends:
- Increasing access to counselling and psychological care services, including specialist financial counselling, for survivors who intend to apply for the scheme, and throughout the application process;
- Expanding the provision of out-of-hours support and counselling services;
- Expanding the provision of culturally sensitive services with a particular emphasis on the needs of First Nation's people;
- Removing any caps or limits on counselling and psychological care services for survivors.
Institutions that have so far failed to join the Scheme remain the committee's most pressing issue. The report recommends the scheme obtain a written statement from each institution that has not joined prior to the deadline of 30 June 2020.
'These statements must detail reasons for their delay, a list of the key officers of the institution, the expected joining date, and all financial benefits accrued by means of their charitable status and/or other sources of public funding or concessions received,' the reports notes.
"The Committee feels strongly that every possible action must be taken against those institutions which fail to uphold their moral, social and ethical responsibilities by declining or delaying their participation in the Scheme," Senator Smith said.
