AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)
Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Tuesday 12 August 2014
The Catholic church has joined calls for a national redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, with mandatory participation by the institutions concerned, but wants to retain some of its controversial gag orders to prevent victims suing.
In its submission to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, the church also altered its previous position by proposing a cap on financial compensation.
The Truth Justice and Healing Council, which represents the Catholic church in dealings with the royal commission, said the legally binding deeds of release, which many victims of abuse signed in order to get redress under the church’s Towards Healing program, should remain in place to prevent civil litigation against the church.
But the releases should not prevent victims making a second claim under an official national scheme. The submission said that while there are “strong policy arguments” against allowing someone to reopen a claim, “where an individual can show that there was something manifestly inadequate about the process in which they reached their settlement, they ought to be entitled to reopen the matter”.
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