2016-02-09
Ms SPRINGLE (South Eastern Metropolitan) — After the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended a national scheme last September, the Turnbull government announced 11 days ago that it would lead the development of a nationally consistent approach that would see victims and survivors compensated by up to $200 000 each. While this is a welcome development, it does not preclude the need to allow victims and survivors to sue their abuser institution in court, if that is what they choose to do. At present victims and survivors of abuse in Catholic institutions in particular find it very difficult to get any effective relief through the courts. Plaintiffs can sue their abuser priests, who have no assets. For plaintiffs to get any proper relief they need to be able to access the very substantial assets of the church, which are held in trusts, but they cannot.
This is a problem that requires a legislative solution, and it is incumbent on the Victorian government to provide that solution. The last Parliament’s Betrayal of Trust inquiry recommended mandatory incorporation of the church, and I note that the New South Wales Greens have proposed an alternative solution in that state. The Victorian government must show leadership on this issue. Every day we wait for a legislative solution is a day that victims and survivors must wait for justice.