Victoria, NSW sign sex abuse redress deal

Victoria and NSW have signed up to the federal government's child sex abuse redress scheme, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced.

Malcolm Turnbull has hailed Victoria and NSW for agreeing to the federal government's child sex abuse redress scheme as a historic moment for people who have suffered "cruel and evil" violence.

The prime minister announced the deal with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, paving the way for other states and non-government institutions to join the scheme.

"We are seeking to provide redress for those shocking crimes," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

"This is an historic moment."

He said more than 9000 people who were sexually abused in New South Wales government institutions and 5000 in Victorian government institutions will have access to the national scheme.

Mr Andrews said there was no now excuse for churches, other non-government organisations and state and territory government to sign up to the scheme.

"We need to get them into the scheme and we need to get it established," Mr Andrews said.

Ms Berejiklian said the scheme was a result of brave survivors who came forward to ensure children in the future will not experience what many others went through.

"It is about the people whose innocence was stolen by those they should have been able to trust, whose childhoods were taken away by acts of appalling depravity, and whose pain was so long denied," she said.

"These wrongs can never be completely righted."


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Source: AAP


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