Bigger payouts for Salvos abuse victims on hold

By Michael Owen
Australian
October 13, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/bigger-payouts-for-salvos-abuse-victims-on-hold/story-fngburq5-1227566640021?sv=810491741d88d5f3516e9afac83c789e

All compensation payments to victims of sexual and physical abuse will be reviewed by the ­Salvation Army, but there will be no changes until the Turnbull government states whether it ­intends to establish and fund a ­national redress scheme.

Salvation Army territorial commander Floyd Tidd yesterday told a royal commission that even if a review concluded a victim’s compensation was inappropriate, an increased amount would not be allocated until the federal government responded to a recommendation for a $4 billion national redress scheme.

“This will assist us in understanding the appropriateness of the monetary values that have been established,” Mr Tidd told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Adelaide yesterday.

This will increase pressure on the Turnbull government for a ­national compensation scheme.

State and territory attorneys-general have written to the federal government asking for “the ­earliest possible indication from the commonwealth as to whether it intends to establish and fund a national redress scheme”.