Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Prior to that vote, I articulated the Greens' position on some of the amendments. As I understand there are going to be some moved together, I'll take this opportunity to outline our support for those amendments and, briefly, the reasoning for that.

Amendment (5) will make sure that, if there's any doubt about whether a prior payment relates to sexual abuse, the scheme will err on the side of the applicant and not deduct the payment from redress. We will be supporting this particular amendment. We think that survivors shouldn't be worse off just because of the way prior payments are considered under the scheme.

In terms of the advance payment scheme, we think this is a particularly important amendment for elderly and ill applicants. As Senator Pratt articulated, other jurisdictions, like Scotland, have made advance payments available to applicants as part of their redress schemes. This is particularly important, as we know that some survivors are ageing and they are very vulnerable. We think this would go a long way to helping them and ensuring they at least see some form of justice.

In terms of amendment (7), this relates to the issues—