NSW survivors of institutional child sexual abuse will have access to unlimited psychological support and counselling, and a payment of up to $150,000, under the National Redress Scheme that starts today, Attorney General Mark Speakman said.
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“The wait is finally over for thousands of survivors who can now seek redress that acknowledges their suffering and helps them in their journey towards recovery,” Mr Speakman said.
NSW was the first state to pass legislation required to enter the national scheme which was a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The Catholic Church, Scouts Australia, the Salvation Army, YMCA Australia, the Uniting Church and the Anglican Church have announced they will participate in the scheme which is administered by the Federal Department of Social Services and will run for 10 years.
Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) chief executive officer Leonie Sheedy welcomed the start of the historic scheme and acknowledged government support. But her organisation, which represents people raised in orphanages, children’s homes and foster care, would hold a minute’s silence outside the royal commission’s former complex in Sydney today to honour people who will never receive redress and justice.
The wait is finally over for thousands of survivors who can now seek redress that acknowledges their suffering and helps them in their journey towards recovery.
- NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman
They include a woman sexually, physically and emotionally abused at a Ballarat orphanage who died last Sunday, aged 73.
Ms Sheedy said many people raised in orphanages and homes have died prematurely through ill health or suicide because of the crimes committed against them.
While the national redress scheme was welcomed and July 1 was an important day that many believed would never happen, “It’s also a sad day because it brings back all the trauma that people experienced as children, and have kept experiencing throughout their lives”.
Ms Sheedy said only those who suffered in children’s homes, orphanages and foster care understood the hurt felt when politicians talked “average” payments under the redress scheme which is capped at $150,000.
“There was nothing average about the crimes committed behind orphanage walls on Australian children,” Ms Sheedy said.
A CLAN member named Rhonda, who spent more than three years in the notorious St Johns orphanage at Thurgoona near Albury, run by the Catholic Mercy Sisters, said she will apply for support and redress but no amount of money would compensate for the damage done.
Rhonda was 10 when she was left at the home in 1969 by her father and a Catholic priest, and was sexually abused by a “good Christian man” whose family was one of many that regularly took girls from the orphanage for visits.
The man has since died. Rhonda said as an adult she told a senior Mercy nun what the man had done to her but the nun had only responded, “I’m sorry to hear that.”
There was nothing average about the crimes committed behind orphanage walls on Australian children.
- CLAN chief executive officer Leonie Sheedy
“The cruelty of some of these nuns to the children who were supposed to be in their care doesn’t get enough attention,” Rhonda said.
CLAN will continue to campaign against the indexing of payments already received by some abuse survivors under state redress schemes, and for the expansion of the scheme to include people who were physically and psychologically abused in orphanages, but not sexually abused.
“Not all children were sexually abused but many children suffered cruel and inhumane treatment in these institutions. This scheme provides nothing for them,” Ms Sheedy said.
In a statement Mr Speakman said survivors can apply for redress by completing an application available in paper or online.
The scheme includes a direct personal response to survivors from participating institutions responsible for the abuse.
“NSW is leading the nation by providing survivors of child abuse in NSW institutions access to unlimited counselling and psychological support,” Mr Speakman said.
“Because NSW has opted in, applications from survivors of abuse in NSW Government institutions can now be considered,” he said.
Applications from survivors of non-government institutions such as churches will be considered when the institutions have officially signed on to the scheme.
“Survivors have suffered enough and while it’s not possible to undo the damage caused by institutional child sexual abuse, this is an opportunity to provide practical and compassionate assistance,” Mr Speakman said.
For more information about the scheme, visit: www.nationalredress.gov.au
CLAN members will hold a minute’s silence and rally for abuse survivors at 1 Farrer Place, Sydney from noon.
The Newcastle Herald
