Abuse commission disappointed at govt failure to support compo

By Dan Box
Australian
March 25, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/abuse-commission-disappointed-at-govt-failure-to-support-compo/story-fngburq5-1227277989633

A victim of child sex abuse by a Catholic priest has said the federal government “would prefer us to suffer in silence” after it declined to support proposals for a multi-billion dollar national compensation scheme for those abused as children.

Ms Davis, who was abused from the age of 12 by a member of the Passionist Order north of Sydney, was giving evidence at a royal commission hearing into the proposals, at which the federal government has also declined to appear.

“We just have to demand there be a national scheme. What the government was saying this morning to survivors was that they would prefer us to suffer in silence, to not reveal their shortcomings to not make them face their financial responsibilities.

“It says ‘we don’t want you to recover’. We actually have a right to recover,” Ms Davis said.

Earlier, the child abuse royal commissioners say they are “disappointed” at the federal government’s decision. .

The Commonwealth has declined to take part in today’s public hearing of the commission to discuss how best to provide compensation, help with medical costs and a formal apology to an estimated 65,000 victims of child abuse.

“The ideal position for survivors would be a single national redress scheme led by the Australian government,” the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Assault has previously found.

With an estimated cost of $4.3bn, such a scheme would likely be funded by the institutions in which the abuse took place and many of Australia’s leading churches as well as several state and territory governments have already signalled their support.

In a two-and-a-half page written submission sent to the commission, the federal government said the proposals “would be extremely complex” and would involve “protracted and complex negotiations”. The Commonwealth also did not want to end up as a ‘funder of last resort’,

making it liable for other institutions that had ceased to exist or were too poor to meet compensation claims, its submission said.

“It seems clear from the Commonwealth’s submission that it does not support a single national redress scheme,” commission chair Peter McClellan said.

“The commissioners are disappointed that ... the structural approach that is overwhelmingly supported ... as being most likely to ensure a just, fair and consistent outcome for all victims wherever they have suffered abuse is not presently supported by the Commonwealth.”

Wayne Chamley, from the victims’ advocacy group Broken Rites, said they supported a single national compensation scheme.

“There is one group who can’t even appear here. They’re the men who tragically decided to take their own lives ... Another group, where there’s been a severity of impact, that it has blighted their lives but it hasn’t obliterated their lives.

“I’m hoping that that’s where we might pick up on some of this and recognise it for what it is,” Dr Chamley said.