Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Amendment Bill 2023 because it's incredibly important that we continue the work which was started under the coalition government on making sure that we've got a National Redress Scheme that works for everyone. It's incredibly important that we continue to do so in a bipartisan way because this issue is incredibly important for the survivors. All our focus has to be on making sure that we're getting the best outcomes for survivors.

I had the great privilege of putting the National Redress Scheme together, working along with the states and territories at the time to make sure that we established a National Redress Scheme. The National Redress Scheme was only able to come into operation with the approval of every state and territory. It took a lot of time and effort and a lot of negotiation to put the National Redress Scheme together because each state and territory—and especially the attorneys-general of each state and territory—obviously wanted to make sure that, for their particular circumstances, we got the scheme right. Over a number of months and a number of meetings we were able to set the National Redress Scheme up.

We knew when we set it up and came up with the first iteration of the National Redress Scheme that it would need to evolve. That's why a review process was put in place after two years. You've got to remember that when we were putting the National Redress Scheme together there were state Labor governments, there were coalition governments and obviously the coalition was in power federally.

In my role, I always wanted to make sure that the survivors themselves were front and centre and the sole focus of the National Redress Scheme. I want to thank the survivors that I met with, who told me about their personal experiences—harrowing beyond harrowing. Some of the stories that I heard at the time were so deeply disturbing that they still readily come to mind now. The survivors' honesty and willingness to tell their stories were why the Commonwealth worked so closely with the states and territories across all political persuasions to make sure we put this National Redress Scheme in place. I'd like to once again thank all those state and territory attorneys-general who worked with the Commonwealth to do it at the time.

I'd also like to mention one of those survivors, who is from my electorate. I still stay in touch with him today, and he is battling cancer at the moment. Mick, I wish you all the very best with your ongoing battle with cancer at this time, and I look forward to staying in touch with you.

The two-year review was incredibly important in terms of making sure that this scheme continued to evolve.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 10:52 to 11:07

I will just go back to where I was. Governments of all political colours came together to put the National Redress Scheme together. You have to remember that, at the time, there were state and territory Labor governments, state and territory coalition governments and a federal coalition government, and everyone put those political differences aside because everyone realised how important it was that this was all about survivors. My hope is that we can continue to do that.

One of the important things we put in place was a review process so that, if the scheme did need to evolve, we could make sure that it did evolve. I think that was particularly important because everyone was determined to see two outcomes.

The first was a good and fair process to make sure that those survivors could get the compensation that they utterly deserved. There was also an understanding that, in some instances—probably in nearly every instance—no matter how much compensation was provided, it was never going to make up in any way for the wrongs that had been committed. But the idea was that, with that process, with an apology and with a determination by all governments to do everything we could to make sure that these types of heinous offences didn't occur in the future, there would be an understanding that everyone was trying to do the very best by those survivors.

The other outcome was making sure that the Redress Scheme itself was seen by survivors in particular and by the general community as honouring what it was set up to do, which was to make sure that it was all about the survivors and that people knew and understood what needed to be done.

That's why, in good faith, I hope that both the coalition and the government can sit down and work through this. We think there needs to be one change to this bill, because what we do not want to see is the scheme coming into disrepute. Some of the people who committed those offences wouldn't have to go through a special process now. We think that needs to be looked at. My hope is that the minister and the shadow minister will be able to sit down and look at that, because it is incredibly important that the community and the survivors themselves continue to have confidence in the scheme and the way it is operating. That was very much the intent when ministers across all political persuasions put the scheme together. My hope is that we will be able to continue that approach on an issue like this, which should be one of complete bipartisanship where the interests of survivors, the scheme itself and the proper operation of the scheme are absolutely paramount and are put first.

Can I say that there is still a lot of work to do. One of the things we did after we set the scheme up was to ensure that all those institutions that had been named would join the scheme. There was a lot of pressure put on those institutions to ensure that we had full coverage. I would once again call on any institution who has been named and who hasn't joined the scheme to please do so. You have an absolute moral and ethical obligation to do so, and I would call on any institution that hasn't joined to do that. I would also say to those institutions who have that I think the morally and ethically right thing for you to have done was to join the scheme. I ask those that have joined to make sure they continue to participate within the scheme with grace and understanding, knowing about the heinous things that were done to people—people from across all walks of life—under the names of those institutions. Sadly, no-one was spared. There were successful businesspeople. There were young children. There were women and young girls. You name it. This went right across every walk of life in our society, and that's why it's incredibly important that we do our absolute best to make amends for those crimes that were committed.

I commend this bill and what it is seeking to do. I ask that we continue to work in a bipartisan fashion and that there is proper discussion around some of the areas of concern so that we can continue to make sure that this scheme operates in a fully bipartisan way, which was how it was set up.

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