Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank all senators who have made a contribution to the debate on the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Amendment (Technical Amendments) Bill 2020 and acknowledge the multipartisan way in which everybody in this chamber has approached this very, very serious issue and the response that we, as a parliament, want to provide. This bill seeks to amend the primary legislation for the scheme. The bill proposes to increase the efficiency of the scheme for its remaining eight years of operation and to make sure that we assist in finalising outstanding applications. The amendments address minor and technical issues with the current operation of the act and will address unintended consequences or oversights in the initial drafting of the primary legislation underpinning this scheme. Consistent with the survivor focus of the scheme, survivor groups support the passage of this bill, as does the Standing Committee on Community Affairs. In accordance with the scheme's governance arrangements, all jurisdictions have supported the progression of the bill, and they are required to be consulted on and approve all future changes to the redress act, due to the cooperative basis under which this scheme continues to operate.

Regardless of the amendments that are being brought forward to this bill, I do acknowledge a very, very strong shared desire to continue to improve this scheme. The bill adds to the strong improvements that have already been put in place for the scheme, and the government remains committed to improving the scheme and encouraging all institutions that have been named to join the scheme. Pleasingly, the government has already been at work, and 191 institutions have joined the scheme in its third year of operation. The number has grown through the use of the naming and shaming of recalcitrant institutions. The government has already implemented measures to name and shame institutions that fail to sign up to the scheme and financial penalties for those that fail to join the scheme. These two levers come into force six months after the first meaningful contact with the institution, once it has been named.

The Morrison government has also commenced the legislated two-year review, which is currently being undertaken by Robyn Kruk AO. The report has a focus on all aspects raised in the shadow minister's amendments and incorporates extensive consultation with survivors. This report will be made public. Changes of this nature would need to be endorsed by the redress board, which comprises state and territory ministers, meaning the amendments would be unlikely to be implemented, regardless of their passage through this place. As such, the government do not support these amendments, and we remain committed to the continuous improvement of this scheme and making sure that survivors continue to inform the decisions around any changes to the scheme.

In response specifically to the amendments that have been put forward, I would say that, in relation to the naming and shaming amendment, clearly we have done everything that we said we would do. We named and shamed the institutions on 1 July last year, and, pleasingly, on 1 January this year we didn't have to name or shame any other institutions. If in the future we find institutions that have a responsibility or a moral obligation under this scheme to join the scheme, we will name and shame those organisations if they do not do the right thing by survivors. As I said, we have taken real and tangible action against those organisations by making sure that, through consultation, we have in process—and, hopefully, it will be gazetted very soon—the revoking of the charitable status of all organisations that refuse to join the scheme. As the federal government, we have also said that we will not allow any institution that has not joined the scheme but should join the scheme to ever be eligible for any government grants. I'm pleased to say that many of the states and territories are currently in the process of making sure that that is also the case for the grants that are issued through state and territory grant processes.

The two-year review is currently underway, and I want to make sure that we are seeking the advice of survivors so that any response that we make to the review is absolutely informed by survivors themselves. We do not want to pre-empt the review, despite the genuineness of the amendments that are before us today. In principle, the government has no issue with the sentiment of the amendments put forward by the opposition today. But we want to make sure that the two-year review that's currently being undertaken is allowed to take its course. It is due to report at the end of this month, only a few weeks from now. As I said, we will make this report publicly available for everybody to see. Through the appropriate process of the national redress board, I will then take this to the redress board, a cross-government initiative made up of the ministers of all the states and territories and the federal government, to make sure we are deliver the redress that Australian survivors of institutional child sex abuse so rightfully deserve.