3 years ago
GOVERNMENT’S $610 MILLION REDRESS UNDERSPEND
LINDA BURNEY MP
Survivors of institutional child sexual abuse are missing out on $610 million in compensation because the Government has botched the implementation of the National Redress Scheme.
This week’s Economic and Fiscal Update shows payments under the National Redress Scheme will decrease by $610 million to mid-2021, blaming ‘slower than expected uptake by survivors’ for the write-down.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse estimated 60,000 survivors would be eligible for redress under the scheme.
As of 29 May 2020 however, only 2,250 payments have been made. At this rate it will take around 50 years for the total estimated number of survivors to receive redress.
This is the latest insult for survivors who have already waited too long for redress.
The Scheme has been up and running for more than two years – and survivors have been reporting poor processes, unfair and inconsistent decision making, inadequate payments and chronic delays.
The National Redress Scheme is meant to deliver justice for survivors, not savings for governments and institutions.
The Scheme simply isn’t working as planned – thousands of people who deserve justice simply aren’t coming forward and the Government needs to fix it.
Labor has called on the Government to:
This week’s Economic and Fiscal Update shows payments under the National Redress Scheme will decrease by $610 million to mid-2021, blaming ‘slower than expected uptake by survivors’ for the write-down.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse estimated 60,000 survivors would be eligible for redress under the scheme.
As of 29 May 2020 however, only 2,250 payments have been made. At this rate it will take around 50 years for the total estimated number of survivors to receive redress.
This is the latest insult for survivors who have already waited too long for redress.
The Scheme has been up and running for more than two years – and survivors have been reporting poor processes, unfair and inconsistent decision making, inadequate payments and chronic delays.
The National Redress Scheme is meant to deliver justice for survivors, not savings for governments and institutions.
The Scheme simply isn’t working as planned – thousands of people who deserve justice simply aren’t coming forward and the Government needs to fix it.
Labor has called on the Government to:
- Introduce an advance payment scheme for terminally ill or elderly survivors, so they don’t miss out
- Speed up the decision making process;
- Fix the arbitrary assessment matrix;
- Lift the cap on payments to $200,000 as recommended by the Royal Commission;
- Sanction organisations that refuse to sign-up under the Charities Act, including the suspension of tax concessions;
- Expand funder of last resort provisions; and
- End the indexing of prior payments.