Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—The National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Amendment Bill 2023 makes improvements to the National Redress Scheme, which commenced on 1 July 2018. The scheme was established in response to recommendations from the Royal Commission into Industrial Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It is set to run for 10 years. To be eligible for redress, the abuse must have occurred before 1 July 2018. The act that established the redress scheme requires a review of the operation of the scheme after its second anniversary and also after its eighth anniversary. At the moment, we are halfway through the operation of the scheme and we are still finding ways to make the scheme better. I think that is a really good thing. I have said it before and I will say it again: I am in this place to make things better for people. No law is perfect, and it likely never will be, but, if we can do what we can to make improvements when we've been told that we should, I think that's a day's work well done.

No changes that we make in this place can undo the terrible abuse of children at the hands of institutions that were supposed to protect them. A local victim-survivor in Launceston—I will call him 'John'—shared some thoughts on the scheme that he said I could share in this chamber. John said, 'No amount of money can ever compensate a person for a lost childhood, but these relatively small payments can make a difference for those struggling to make ends meet.'

Child sexual abuse robs a person so much of their potential, including the ability to get, secure and maintain employment. Too often victims-survivors struggle to get the support services they need. John said the Redress Scheme is an unfortunate necessity and it is the nation's shame that it is a necessity. I agree with John. I'm sorry for the childhoods that were robbed. I'm sorry for the way our most trusted institutions betrayed these children and their families. I'm sorry that nothing that we do in this place can repair the lives lost and the pain that victims-survivors and their families suffered and continue to suffer. My hope is that in this place we can make things a little better for people who were abused as children. The reason there are reviews into the operation of the scheme is so that improvements can be made periodically when necessary. That is what this bill does in response to the final report of the second year of the National Redress Scheme.

The review took place between July 2020 and March 2021. It involved meetings with survivors, support services, government agencies and ministers. The review also received submissions. The independent reviewer delivered her report in 2021. That report contained 38 recommendations. The government provided a final response to the report in 2023, supporting the vast majority of the recommendations. The government then drafted this bill in consultation with the Ministers' Redress Scheme Governance Board, comprising Commonwealth, state and territory ministers responsible for redress. The board has agreed to the changes to the act contained in the bill. I know that the independent reviewer and the department have put a lot of hard work into improvements to the Redress Scheme.

It is important to note the implementation of the Redress Scheme is overseen by the Joint Standing Committee on Implementation of the National Redress Scheme. There has and continues to be a lot of consultation, and in my opinion that is a great thing. I understand the changes to the scheme and its operation made by this bill are not going to satisfy all victims and survivors. John, the victim-survivor I spoke about earlier, had some suggestions for improvement of the Redress Scheme. One suggestion was to allow for recipients of financial redress to also seek further financial redress through civil actions. I see why John wants further improvements to be made. The maximum compensation of $150,000 falls well short of what some people would get if they went through the court system and were successful. But this is not what the royal commission recommended. In fact, the royal commission recommended that the making of a monetary payment through the Redress Scheme should require an applicant to release the scheme, including the contributing government or governments and the institution, from any further liability for institutional child sexual abuse, by executing a deed of release.

I also know that many people don't want to spend years of their life in court. They just want to move past that chapter of their life. They don't want to have to interact with the institution that was responsible for the harm they suffered. The Redress Scheme ensures that applicants will not need to deal directly with the institution in which they were abused. Another suggestion from John was that the Redress Scheme recipients should expect that a finding in their favour could automatically trigger an institutional investigation into the named abuser. At present the scheme does share what is called 'protected information', including sending reports to the relevant law enforcement authorities for child safety purposes. The bill makes further amendments that authorise an institution to disclose this protected information for the purposes of an internal investigation or disciplinary proceeding. It will always be hard to strike the right balance with legislation like this. But what I hope people will take from the passage of this bill and the work of the Joint Standing Committee on Implementation of the National Redress Scheme is the commitment of this parliament and governments across Australia to create a trauma informed, equitable and balanced redress scheme.

We know that there is always room for improvement. Like I said earlier, there are processes in place for further review of the operation of this scheme and for further improvement. That's why I support this bill. In doing so, I acknowledge and thank victim-survivors like John for their courage in continuing to share their stories and thoughts on improving the Redress Scheme.