Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes that the Government has not committed to implementing all the recommendations of the second anniversary review of the National Redress Scheme; and

(2) calls on the Government to listen to survivors and:

(a) increase the cap on payments to $200,000, as recommended by the Royal Commission;

(b) end the indexation of prior payments;

(c) fix the assessment matrix and properly recognise the impact of abuse;

(d) make sure funder of last resort arrangements are in place so survivors do not miss out;

(e) guarantee that offers of redress will not be reduced on review;

and

(f) provide ongoing counselling and support".

The National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Amendment Bill 2021, so far as it goes, will be supported by Labor. We note that the government, however, has not committed to implementing all of the recommendations of the second-anniversary review of the National Redress Scheme. We call on the government to listen to survivors; to increase the cap on payments to $200,000, as recommended by the royal commission; to end the indexation of prior payments; to fix the assessment matrix and properly recognise the impact of abuse; to make sure the funder-of-last-resort arrangements are in place so survivors do not miss out; to guarantee that offers of redress will not be reduced on review; and to provide ongoing counselling and support.

It has been almost a decade since the Gillard Labor government announced the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Survivors waited a long time for that royal commission. I've spoken to people in my electorate who were affected by institutional child abuse, and the impact of that trauma is lifelong. Those survivors have waited a long time for redress. I pay tribute to their dignity, their honour, their resilience, their toughness. We know that it has been a painful journey, and a long journey for many, and these delays are only compounding the trauma. This bill has made some welcome changes, but it has left out many other necessary changes. The government needs to listen to the royal commission and needs to act on the recommendations of the royal commission.

Debate interrupted.