Law Council Backs Compensation Scheme for Abuse Survivors

The Guardian
March 26, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/mar/27/law-council-backs-compensation-scheme-for-abuse-survivors

The federal government has told the royal commission that running a scheme would be too complex. Photograph: Jeremy Piper/AAP

The Law Council of Australia has backed a national redress scheme for abuse survivors and says the commonwealth has the mechanisms to establish one.

Duncan McConnel, the president of the society which represents 60,000 Australian lawyers, says it is possible for the states and territories to refer power to the commonwealth.

In its response to the child sexual abuse royal commission, the federal government has said running a national scheme would be too complex and it does not have the power to set one up.

McConnel said the commonwealth had demonstrated the ability to develop and support a redress scheme through the establishment of the defence abuse response team. The defence force model provided a holistic approach incorporating reparation payments and restorative justice, he said.

The Law Council supported the development of a national scheme “which provides a consistent procedure to facilitate redress for survivors”, he said. It should coordinate apologies, access to counselling and compensation.