Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I indicate the government's position in relation to that again and add at the beginning our blanket approach. In relation to the merits of this particular proposition, the government does not support the request for amendment. The scheme's eligibility criteria include that a person is an Australian citizen or permanent resident at the time that they apply for redress. The government, in conjunction with all of the state and territory governments as partners in the scheme, considered this eligibility criterion in response to the second-year review of the scheme. As a result of that consideration, which went into quite some detail, and with the agreement of each of the state and territory governments, the government has amended the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Rules 2018 to enable former child migrants who are not Australian citizens or permanent residents to apply to the scheme. So that change has been made as a result of that detailed consideration following the second-year review of the scheme.

Former child migrants are a group of survivors known to be affected by the citizenship and residency criteria, and that change enables access to redress for that group of survivors who experienced institutional child sexual abuse in Australia and helps to hold the relevant institutions to account. All of the governments have agreed to further consider other noncitizen and non-permanent-resident groups, but we're not in a position to make any expansion to the scheme's eligibility criteria in relation to this bill without further consideration and agreement from all of the jurisdictions who are partners in the scheme.