Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for his question on what is a very important issue. As all members know, this week the House passed legislation to establish a national redress scheme. When we passed that legislation we did so in the knowledge that all states and territories, except for Western Australia, had opted in to the scheme. I'm confident that Western Australia will opt in in the near future. We found out yesterday that the Catholic Church will also opt in to the scheme. Today the Anglican Church, the Salvation Army, the Scouts and the YMCA said that they also will be part of this national scheme.

I say to all members in this House: you all deserve credit for putting the interests of survivors first when it comes to this issue. I commend former Prime Minister Julia Gillard for, over seven years ago, having established this royal commission. I commend my shadow for the personal interest that she has taken in this issue. The way she spoke on that bill during the week would have touched every member of this House. I thank the Prime Minister for his leadership on this issue and for hosting survivor groups at Kirribilli, showing them the upmost dignity that they deserve. I thank my predecessor, the now Attorney-General, for the way he handled this issue when he was in the office that I now have the honour to hold.

Delivering justice for the survivors of child sexual abuse is something that all of us in this place want to see and can now make happen by 1 July. It will not deal with all the crimes and all the sins that were committed on those young innocent people, but it will go a long way to help. It will mean that they can get payments of up to $150,000, with an average payment of around $76,000; access to psychological counselling; and, as importantly, an apology from those institutions, whether they were government or non-government institutions, who committed these heinous crimes on these people.

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