CALLS TO OVERHAUL THE CHILD ABUSE NATIONAL REDRESS SCHEME
A federal parliamentary committee has called for significant changes to the $3.8 billion national redress scheme for people sexually abused as children in Australian institutions.
Its 29 recommendations include:
* Penalise, not only name and shame, institutions that fail to join the scheme, such as by suspending tax concessions and withdrawing their charitable status
* Increase the maximum compensation payment from $150,000 to $200,000, in line with the child abuse royal commission's recommendations
* Set a minimum payment ($10,000)
* Revisit the practice of indexing prior payments, where previous compensation received from governments or institutions is taken into account
* Change the framework for assessing redress applications, amid criticism the current system sets a hierarchy of abuse
* Provide adequate amounts for life-long counselling and psychological services
* Expand the circumstances where federal, state and territory governments act as a funder of last resort if the institution responsible for the abuse no longer exists
* Allow access to the scheme by survivors who are not Australian citizens or permanent residents, are in jail or have serious criminal convictions
* Increased information and transparency.
It is up to the federal government - but effectively both the coalition and Labor given the imminent election - to make any changes, which also require the agreement of the state and territory governments.
