The Albanese Labor Government is continuing its commitment to ensuring survivors of institutional child sexual abuse have access to redress with legislation introduced into Parliament today.
Pending passage of legislation, the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Amendment Bill 2023 will implement the remaining agreed recommendations from the Government’s response to the Final Report of the Second Year Review of the National Redress Scheme.
The changes seek to improve the accessibility and transparency of the scheme.
Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth said the Government recognises the life-long impact of institutional child sexual abuse and is committed to ensuring the Scheme is robust and responsive.
“At the heart of this Bill is the wellbeing of survivors,” Minister Rishworth said.
“Survivors have endured unimaginable pain and the Government is dedicated to ensuring the Redress process is as fair and streamlined as possible.
“The Government is committed to improving the Scheme in the interests of survivors. In collaboration with state and territory governments, we want to do everything we can to increase the accessibility of the Scheme to ensure as many survivors as possible can access redress.”
The Bill proposes key changes to improve the Scheme, including:
- allowing applicants to provide additional information when requesting a review;
- reducing the circumstances where applicants must undertake a special assessment process;
- removing restrictions preventing incarcerated survivors from lodging an application and;
- enabling reassessment of finalised applications if a relevant institution later joins the Scheme.
The Bill will also foster more transparent and streamlined practices through changes to protected information provisions, and improve technical aspects of funder of last resort provisions.
More information on these changes will be provided when they come into effect, which is subject to the Bill’s progression through Parliament.
For more information, please see the Final Government Response to the Second Year Review of the National Redress Scheme and the Department of Social Services website.
For support services visit BlueKnot - Redress Information and Application Support (blueknot.org.au) or 1300 657 380.