Churches to Count the Cost of Abuse - 100,000 Victims to Sue

By Janet Fife-Yeomans
Daily Telegraph
April 12, 2013

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/churches-to-count-the-cost-of-abuse-100000-victims-to-sue/story-e6freuy9-1226618617951

UP to 100,000 people will make claims for compensation in the wake of the royal commission into institutionalised abuse, according to a leading lawyer.

They are pinning their hopes on the commission recommending that a "redress fund" be set up, into which institutions at blame would pay commensurate sums of money.

Lawyer Peter Kelso said the Catholic Church may be forced to sell some of its multi-million dollars worth of land and property holdings to pay its fair share of a fund.

While the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will not be able to make awards of compensation, its terms of reference call on it to find ways so that victims can get redress from institutions.

"The words 'by institutions' send the clear message that Australian taxpayers will not be paying a cent," Mr Kelso said.

He has based his estimate on a figure out of the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse which has been told there are 10,000 victims in that state alone.

In Ireland, a Redress Board set up following a nine-year inquiry into Catholic Church abuse received more than 16,000 claims.

Mr Kelso said that if that figure was extrapolated to the Australian population, there would be between 70,000 and 100,000 people who would be seeking compensation.

In Ireland, the average award was $82,190. The largest award was $392,704.

Mr Kelso said that it was something that had to be faced.

"It will be an enormous amount of money but my attitude is that the days of token payments of $50,000 have gone. Some clients have been offered as little as $5000 to go away."

Mr Kelso said compensation was a punishment but also a way to restore the victim to the position they would have been in had their lives not been torn apart by abuse as a child.

He said that he had hundreds of clients who wanted to give evidence to the royal commission, which has foreshadowed hearing from at least 5000 people.

The Irish compensation scheme took into account the severity of the abuse and injury with an additional loading of up to 20 per cent for exceptional cases. It also paid medical expenses and all costs reasonably incurred in making an application.

Mr Kelso said that the Catholic Church was found to be the main perpetrator.

The church's initial contribution only covered 10 per cent of the total payout and it now has to sell property in the financial crisis that is still going on in Ireland.

"There are lessons to be learned from Ireland and the Australian royal commission will hopefully be looking at these. I expect public pressure in Australia will force the Catholic Church to liquidate a large slice of its substantial real estate holdings," Mr Kelso said.

The royal commission has said it will be not commenting on public speculation.