PM "Should Follow" Alp on Redress: Church

9 News
October 27, 2015

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/10/28/09/42/pm-should-follow-alp-on-redress-church

The Labor party's commitment to a national redress scheme for abuse survivors has been welcomed by the Uniting Church.

The church's president in Australia, Stuart McMillan, said he "warmly welcomed" the promise made by federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to establish the $4.3 billon scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse in Australian institutions.

"The Uniting Church in Australia strongly supports this initial commitment by Labor, and we sincerely hope the Turnbull government will show similar leadership on this issue," Mr McMillan said.

Mr McMillan has released a statement after Labor's announcement on Tuesday, saying the United Church stands ready to play its part.

"For our part the Uniting Church will continue our work to make amends for the wrongs in our past," Mr McMillan said.

"In consultation with any survivors of sexual abuse in our care, we will seek to make amends for what happened and identify how we can best offer support into the future.

"We will also continue to apply the lessons learned from the Royal Commission to improve our practices and processes to make our Church the safest place for children it can possibly be."

In June AAP reported that the Uniting Church changed its governance regulations to make it easier to support a national redress scheme.

In February and March this year the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse held a public inquiry into Knox Grammar - a Uniting Church elite private school on Sydney's north shore - which heard allegations of a 30 year cover-up of sex abuse by at least five and possibly seven teachers.

The redress scheme backed by Labor and recommended by the royal commission would see a national advisory board established to oversee a program that would involve providing abuse survivors with counselling, care and compensation.

Labor has committed itself to providing $33 million start-up funding for the scheme which would be then fully funded by the institutions - state and faith-based - where the abuse happened.

The commission has modelled a scheme that would cover 65,000 survivors, cost more than $4 billion with payments starting at $10,000 and capped at $200,000.

It would like to see the scheme ready to start by July 2016 but the federal government has not yet responded to the commission's proposal made three months ago.