Advocates for child sexual abuse survivors who feel betrayed by a national redress scheme want it urgently overhauled, regardless of who wins the federal election.
A federal parliamentary committee has demanded significant changes to the $3.8 billion scheme where it falls short of key recommendations of the royal commission into child sexual abuse in Australian institutions.
Committee chairman Senator Derryn Hinch said the royal commission recommendations should have been a guiding principle for the redress scheme from the very start.
"These survivors must not be betrayed again," he said in a statement on Thursday.
"They have all suffered too much, way too much."
In a report released this week, the cross-party committee declared the redress scheme was at serious risk of not delivering on its objective of providing justice to survivors.
It wants churches and charities penalised if they fail to join the scheme, the maximum payment increased from $150,000 to the royal commission's $200,000 cap and a new framework for how applications are assessed.
The substantive legislative and policy changes would require the support of whichever party wins the federal election and agreement from state and territory governments, which the committee deemed significant-but-not-insurmountable barriers.
The committee said the maximum payment was of huge symbolic importance and it understood the betrayal that would be felt by many survivors.
Committee deputy chair Sharon Claydon told parliament survivors felt betrayed each time the scheme deviated from the royal commission recommendations.
Maurice Blackburn abuse specialist Michelle James said advocates have consistently called for changes to ensure the national redress scheme genuinely puts the needs of survivors first.
"We do not have anything close to that with the current redress scheme, and all sides of politics must recognise this and act with urgency to deliver a fair national redress scheme for survivors," she said.
"This report cannot be allowed to sit on a shelf gathering dust and ignored, simply because an election is imminent."
The federal government said it will carefully consider the report before formally responding, noting many of the recommendations require the full cooperation of state and territory governments or may have legislative implications.
Labor, which has raised concerns about aspects of the redress program, pledged to work with the states and territories to improve the scheme if it wins the election.
