National Redress Scheme awards payouts to at least 12 South Australian victims of sexual abuse
In its first year, a National Redress Scheme for victims of sexual abuse has received 229 applicants from SA – and at least a dozen of them won payouts.
At least a dozen South Australian victims of sexual abuse have been awarded payouts from the National Redress Scheme in its first year, figures show, as an Adelaide college becomes the latest organisation to join.
Official figures obtained by The Advertiser show that 229 victims of institutional child sex abuse in SA have applied for compensation through the Commonwealth scheme.
But as St Peter’s College is named as the latest organisation to join the national scheme, there are calls for more to sign up.
Advocates say it can help victims deal with their trauma.
Authorities said that in its first year, 12 cases had been finalised – six against State Government institutions and the other six against other SA-based organisations.
Average State Government redress payments were $115,000 or $104,460 when previous payouts were factored in.
The total amount so far paid out to South Australians was not released.
Payouts are capped at $150,000.
The State Government, which joined in February, has allocated $146 million from the victims of crime fund, based on an estimated 1700 complaints being approved.
But Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said she was concerned with the scheme’s voluntary nature.
“There are issues with this scheme in that a person’s access to redress … is dependent on the relevant institution having joined,” the state’s top legal officer said.
“Ideally, there would be no need for a scheme such as this – however, regrettably, people in both non-government and state-run institutions were abused as children.”
The 10-year scheme, centrally administered by the Federal Department of Social Services, was launched in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Across Australia, 56 federal, state and private institutions – including subsidiaries such as schools – have signed up.
While St Peter’s was not called before the royal commission, its disgraced former chaplain John Mountford was accused of abusing a student.
After fleeing overseas in 1992, he was extradited to Adelaide but his prosecution was dropped over the student’s mental health.
Mountford, 53, who said he was homosexual but denied abusing the student, was murdered in Libya in 2009.
A St Peter’s spokeswoman said the safety and wellbeing of students at the Hackney school, in the inner east, “is and will continue to be of paramount importance”.
“It is our express intention to handle any matters with care and empathy and to ensure survivors receive both recognition and redress,” she said.
Families and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston was encouraged more institutions “are doing the right thing”.
“I urge other institutions to join quickly to allow survivors access to the support they are owed as soon as possible,” she said.
Victims’ Rights Commissioner Bronwyn Killmier said redress was an “important acknowledgment for those who were sexually abused”.