AUSTRALIA
The Australian
..
MICHAEL MCKENNA
ReporterBrisbane
@McKennaattheOz
Child abuse victims forced into meagre compensation settlements will have the chance to launch new legal action for the first time in Australia under legislation passed in the Queensland parliament.
Opposition and crossbench MPs secured passage last night of the pioneering reforms to abolish time limits on child abuse legal action.
The minority Palaszczuk government had introduced the legislation in response to recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to allow people to sue regardless of when alleged abuse happened.
In Queensland, victims have had until their 21st birthday to sue institutions over their abuse.
But the Labor government had refused calls to extend the bill to children outside institutions, those who suffered physical and psychological abuse, or to pave the way for victims to take legal action if they had already received compensation.
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