Abuse victims to wait for more money

Sky News
October 13, 2015

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/national/2015/10/13/abuse-victims-to-wait-for-more-money.html

Victims of sex abuse in homes run by the Salvation Army will likely have to wait several years to learn if a review of their cases will result in increased compensation payments.

The review of all previous settlements is already underway by the army in relation to children who were abused at four homes - at Eden Park in Adelaide, at Box Hill and Bayswater in Melbourne and at Nedlands in Perth.

In some cases former residents who were abused over long periods received just a few thousand dollars.

But the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse has been told that a decision on what increased payments might be made would not be taken until after the federal government's response to the commission's findings with particular reference to a national redress scheme.

The final report of the commission is not due to be handed to the government until December, 2017.

Senior Salvation Army official Floyd Tidd says the organisation has committed to review all 418 settlements made between 1996 and 2014, with a special emphasis on those who settled without legal advice and those where criminal action has since been taken or where new information is available.

Those investigations may determine that the level of payment in some cases was insufficient.

'But to reopen the claims, we will wait ... until the response is provided to the recommendation of the Royal Commission,' he told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Adelaide on Monday.

He said a major consideration in setting future payments would be the both the commission's and the government's views on a single, national redress scheme and what payment levels that considered appropriate.

The commission will continue on Tuesday with evidence from a former Salvation Army official.