Child Sexual Abuse Survivors Praise Commission's Compensation Proposal

@MelissaLDavey
January 29, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jan/30/child-sexual-abuse-survivors-praise-commissions-compensation-proposal

Care Leavers Australia Network (Clan) founders Joanna Penglase and Leonie Sheedy outside the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Sydney last year. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Former prime minister Julia Gillard “chose the right man for the job” when she appointed Justice Peter McClellan to chair the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, victim advocates say.

Responding to the release on Friday of the commission’s consultation paper on a redress scheme for victims, the chief executive of the Care Leavers of Australia Network (Clan), Leonie Sheedy, said it showed McClellan had listened to them.

Assuming an estimated 64,900 survivors received payments of $65,000 each, the redress scheme would cost governments and non-government institutions $4.38bn over 10 years, the report said.

“I commend the royal commission for this report, and it is good to finally have a discussion paper for redress and litigation,” Sheedy said.

“This must have taken an enormous toll on all of the commissioners, but especially Justice McClellan, and I commend them all for this. Julia Gillard chose the right man for this job, and I have a profound respect for him because he gets it.”

McClellan had always insisted members of Clan, a support network for those abused in orphanages, call him “Peter”, Sheedy said, and he made sure a gift the organisation gave to him – a seat cushion – accompanied him everywhere he went for commission hearings.

“He has made us feel at ease, he is gentle, and you can tell he cares,” she said.

However, Sheedy said she was concerned that sick and elderly survivors of abuse may not be around by the time a potential redress scheme was implemented.

She suggested a fast-tracked, interim redress scheme for those people.

All organisations where abuse occurred should make a contribution, and all forms of abuse should be taken into account, Sheedy said.

“If organisations go broke, so be it,” she said. “We were Australia’s children. We lost our childhoods, our identity, our culture, and opportunities.

“This redress scheme must be inclusive of all forms of abuse, not just sexual but physical and psychological.”

McClellan said on Friday the organisations involved recognised that was not only about money. All organisations involved had indicated their support for the measures outlined in the report, he said, which also included personal apologies, if wanted, and psychological care.

“The fundamental object of redress must be to help those who have suffered to heal and live a productive and fulfilled life,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the New South Wales chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Nicky Davis, told reporters following the announcement that she felt emotional that a redress scheme may “finally happen”.

“For so long we’ve had to fight tooth and nail to get the truth out there, to get an admission that this happened at all,” Davis said.

“And then to have it taken seriously, and then to have action taken on our behalf and so this is almost as powerful as when the royal commission was announced, in terms of that finally the people of Australia are not going to put up with politicians refusing to deal with this issue.”

Anthony Foster, whose daughters Emma and Katie suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a Victorian priest over several years, gave evidence to the commission last August.

His daughters suffered severe depression as a result of the abuse and turned to drugs and alcohol. Emma took her own life in 2008.

Katie suffered permanent brain damage after binge drinking and being hit by a car while crossing a road, in 1999.

The Fosters decided to pursue legal action rather than go through the Catholic church’s investigation and redress scheme, known as the Melbourne Response, which offered them $50,000. They reached an out-of-court settlement of $750,000, the largest of its kind.

On Friday, Foster told Guardian Australia the commission’s proposal of an average $65,000 payment to victims was better than the amount most victims were offered under existing schemes.

“But I’m disappointed that it still seems to be based on affordability rather than the needs of victims,” he said. “At the same time, I am glad that we are likely going to see monetary payments made to a very large number of victims, many of which would not have received any compensation if not for this.”

Importantly, the community was coming to understand the significance and extent of the suffering of victims because of the work of the commission, he said. “And they are coming to understand it has affected a very, very large number of people,” he said.