On Thursday 25 July 2024 the Minister for Social Services, the Hon Amanda Rishworth MP, chaired a meeting of the Ministers’ Redress Scheme Governance Board (the Board) in Adelaide, attended by Ministers responsible for the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (the Scheme) in each state or territory.
Minister Rishworth welcomed the enduring commitment from all Ministers to work collaboratively on implementing the Scheme for the benefit of survivors, and with a survivor-centred focus. As the 10-year Scheme begins its seventh year of operation, Ministers acknowledged the sustained increase in the number of applications to the Scheme and the need for governments to continue to work together to support all aspects of the Scheme.
Minister Rishworth provided an overview of work undertaken by the Commonwealth through successive budgets to improve the Scheme’s efficiency and the timeliness of processing of applications.
Ministers agreed and discussed other matters, including:
- Agreeing amendments to the National Redress Scheme Assessment Framework to combine the recognition and impact payments in accordance with the Australian Government’s Final Response to the Second Anniversary Review;
- Considering information about claim farming and sharp practice by some private law firms and survivor advocacy businesses with respect to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, and actions they may take to address this;
- The Survivor Roundtable held in Perth in March this year where survivors shared their experiences and views on the operation of the Scheme and their interactions with other government services;
- Scheme eligibility for non-citizens and non-permanent residents, with the decision made not to expand the scheme to this group; and
- Updates on the progress of the Scheme including changes that have been made to provide more support to people who have accepted an offer of receiving a Direct Personal Response from an institution.
The Board discussed steps taken to date, and considered further actions that can be taken to stop claim farming.
Ministers acknowledged the significant effort and ongoing work undertaken by the Commonwealth in partnership with state and territory governments to implement the changes arising from the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Amendment Act 2024. The Act enables survivors to apply from gaol, provide new information as part of the redress application review process, and have their application re-assessed if institutions named in their application have subsequently joined the Scheme.
Ministers also discussed the December 2021 decision regarding Funder of Last Resort arrangements for community sporting clubs that are defunct or unable to meet the financial liability and agreed to undertake further work and reconsider the decision later in the year.
As at 30 June, 2024, 44,046 applications had been received by the Scheme, with payments made to date totalling approximately $1.41 billion, at an average payment of $89,286.
Ministers agreed to meet again in December 2024.
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