The Tasmanian Government will sign up to the national sexual abuse redress scheme, providing an uncapped $70 million over 10 years to fund compensation claims.
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Tasmanian survivors of child sexual abuse will be eligible to receive payments of up to $150,000 and financial support for counselling and other support services.
The $3.2 billion scheme was one of 409 recommendations from the Royal Commission’s final report on institutional responses to child sexual abuse, to be funded by government and non-government sources.
The commission had estimated there were 2200 Tasmanian abuse survivors who would be able to access the scheme.
The national scheme is due to come into effect on July 1.
Premier Will Hodgman defended the length of time it had taken for the state government to commit to the scheme, highlighting that some states had only just signed up recently.
He said Western Australia and Tasmania were in the unique position of having established compensation schemes for child sexual abuse survivors.
Under the $54 million Abuse in State Care compensation scheme, which operated between 2003 and 2013, there were 2414 claims made and 1848 payments.
Attorney-General Elise Archer said people who had accessed the state’s scheme would be able to make applications to the new national scheme, which would be offset by previous claims.
“A redress scheme does not fully compensate for the significant damage caused to a survivor but what it does do is seek to acknowledge the wrongdoing,” she said.
Ms Archer said the $70 million figure, which would be uncapped, was significantly more than expected and was based on projections from the Treasury Department.
“If it’s higher, we will allow for that in future budgets.”
Ms Archer acknowledged criticism the maximum payment to a child sexual abuse survivor was $50,000 less than the Royal Commission recommended.
“However, it is important to note that under the national scheme, the average payment is expected to be $76,000, some $11,000 higher than what was estimated by the Royal Commission,” she said.
Ms Archer said the government had been in contact with non-government institutions that might be liable to contribution to the scheme.
“(I) call on the leaders of Tasmania’s non-government institutions that may be liable to recognise the significance of this issue, and the opportunity this scheme provides their organisations to address damage caused to those they once had a duty to protect,” she said.
“I would urge organisations not to fail these victims a second time.”
The state's Anglican Church has committed to joining the national redress scheme, and to fund its contribution, will sell off church property to raise an estimated $8 million.
Anglican Bishop of Tasmania Richard Condie said it was the right thing to do and was pleased the state government had joined their commitment to the scheme.
“Redress provides a measure of restorative justice to survivors as well as recognition and support,” he said.
The Catholic Church is yet to signal if it will commit to the scheme.
“The scheme is one of a number of steps that I hope will offer healing to the victims of abuse,” Archbishop Julian Porteous said.
Ms Archer said applications would not be approved for incarcerated survivors with sentences greater than five years though would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Tasmania’s Sexual Assault Support Service chief executive Jill Maxwell said the organisation hoped the well-documented correlation between child sexual abuse victimisation and subsequent engagement in criminal activities was realised.
“We know that nothing can undo the past, but the government’s announcement today does show survivors that society recognises the wrongs that have been done to them,” she said.
The government will bring into effect amended legislation to remove limited time periods imposed on a child sexual assault victims to seek redress through courts, in line with commencement of the redress scheme.
Labor and the Greens supported the government’s move to sign up to the scheme and make sure the limitation legislation was enacted in time.
Greens leader Cassy O'Connor said abuse survivors must not be caught up in bureaucratic webs or shortchanged through participating in the scheme.
"We must continue to keep an eye on Commonwealth and state governments to make sure they are administering this scheme not with an eye on the costs, but with a heart for the survivors," she said.
“While there are survivors, there are victims that didn't survive the sexual abuse they endured when they were children.”
Labor’s justice spokeswoman Ella Haddad said there were still child sexual abuse victims who wouldn’t qualify for redress under the scheme, including victims known to the state’s Child Protection Services, as they weren’t officially wards of the state.