REMOVING Time Limits That Prevent Historic Child Sex Abuse Victims Pursuing Civil Compensation in Victoria Will Make Little Difference by Itself, Victims Say.

9 News
May 8, 2014

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/05/08/17/49/enact-all-abuse-recommendations-victims

The government says it will overhaul the Limitations of Actions Act so organisations can't "hide" behind time limits or other impediments in the legislation to avoid liability.

The government says it supports in-principle all 15 recommendations from the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse handed down last year, with some already enacted.

But advocacy group Ballarat and District Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse says it needs to adopt all of them.

Courts have always had the power to grant exemptions on time limits, the group says, but if there is no relevant entity to sue it is pointless to remove time limits.

They want the government to enact reforms requiring non-government organisations to be incorporated and insured so they can be sued.

"The Ellis defence can still be used and leaves victims with no other option but to go back to the institution that abused them and beg for help," the group said.

"This leaves victims at the mercy of the institutions' good grace, and as was shown by the submissions regarding the (Catholic Church's) Melbourne Response and Towards Healing, this is severely flawed and requires victims to go back to the body that abused them."

They said a "bubble of hope" was created when the recommendations were handed down and survivors were disappointed some recommendations still had not been acted on.

Victims advocacy group Broken Rights said removing time limits was an important step for victims who had to overcome abuse committed when they were children.

"For victims who are still looking for justice and felt justice was denied, that's an important turnaround that they can now bring their claim forward without that time limit that was there previously," spokeswoman Chris MacIsaac said.

Many victims abused as children are only now coming to terms with the crimes committed against them, she said.

The Catholic Church has broadly welcomed the government's response and says it supports its decision to extend working with children checks to religious ministers.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said the inquiry was an important opportunity for victims to be heard and the church to face the truth.

"I believe that this inquiry, and the government's response to it, will assist the healing of those who have been abused and the prevention of abuse in the future," Archbishop Hart said on Thursday.