A victim of historical sexual abuse at the former Bayswater Boys’ Home has reached a $500,000 settlement with the Salvation Army, after receiving just $50,000 under the National Redress Scheme.
The case raises significant concerns about the capacity of the redress scheme to adequately compensate victims of historical abuse. Under the scheme, payments are capped at $150,000 and require recipients to waive their legal rights to sue the organisation involved.
Geoff, a victim of historical sex abuse, sued the Salvation Army outside the National Redress Scheme.Credit: Penny Stephens
Geoff, who asked for his surname not to be used because he is a victim of sexual assault, was initially sent to the former Baltara Reception Centre in Parkside, in Melbourne’s north-east, which provided accommodation for boys involved in minor offending or who were wards of the state.
He was transferred to the Bayswater Boys’ Home in about 1971, where he was abused by three staff members over almost four years.
Two of the men accused in court documents of the sexual assaults were later jailed after being convicted of assaulting other vulnerable children in their care.
Geoff received a $50,000 payment in 2019 from the National Redress Scheme, which identified the state government and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services as being culpable for the abuse.
An undated photo of Bayswater Boys’ Home.Credit: Salvation Army
“As Baltara Reception Centre no longer exists, the state of Victoria is their representative. I found the Department of Health and Human Services equally responsible,” says NRS correspondence from August 2019.
The decision by the NRS to ignore the abuse that occurred at Bayswater Boys’ Home allowed Geoff to launch a separate civil court action against the Salvation Army in 2022, which was recently settled before trial with a payment of $500,000.
The disparity in payments casts doubt over the ability of the redress scheme to provide fair compensation.
The scheme was created after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and has made average payments of $89,000 to more than 15,000 victims of abuse. The payments are funded by the institutions signed up to the scheme.
However, several victims who have opted to pursue civil action against religious orders and other institutions have recently received multimillion-dollar settlements, or been awarded massive damages payments at trial.
In November, a Supreme Court jury awarded $3.3 million to the victim of paedophile priest Vincent Kiss, after lawyers for the Catholic Church argued the victim should have only received $250,000 in damages for pain and suffering.
The Western Bulldogs were ordered to pay $5.9 million in compensation to a child sex abuse victim last year, when a Supreme Court jury ruled the football club was negligent and failed to stop a former volunteer from preying on boys between 1984 and 1990.
Geoff’s lawyer, Cameron Doig from Arnold Thomas & Becker, accused many institutions responsible for child sexual abuse of supporting the NRS because it saved them money and reduced their exposure to liability for historical wrongdoing.
“The NRS pays vulnerable Australians an average of less than $90,000 for a lifetime of suffering caused by child sexual abuse,” Doig said.
“This is grossly inadequate and takes advantage of applicants’ lack of understanding of their rights. The scheme offered [Geoff] barely 10 per cent of what we were ultimately able to secure as compensation.”
Doig said survivors were required to permanently sign away their rights to sue the institution, similar to the Catholic Church’s contentious redress scheme known as the Melbourne Response, which also caps payments at $150,000.
Geoff, who continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, said the abuse he suffered at Bayswater Boys’ Home had disrupted his ability to form relationships and hold down permanent work.
“I still remember all the details; I can even remember their faces. It’s had a huge impact on my life. I couldn’t shake another man’s hand until I was in my 50s because I just struggled with trust,” he said.
Now 64, Geoff recognises he was fortunate to be able to launch civil action against the Salvation Army, despite already receiving a payment under the NRS. But he said the settlement could never compensate for his lost childhood.
“Even if you got a billion dollars, nothing can make up for what happened during those 3½ years. But it gives me a bit of closure and obviously some financial security.”
A Department of Social Services spokesman defended the redress scheme.
“The average payment amount of $89,000 is significantly higher than the $65,000 estimated by the royal commission,” the spokesman said.
“While the maximum monetary payment may be lower through the redress scheme, it is simpler for survivors to access than through civil litigation. Redress applications are assessed using a lower evidence threshold than civil litigation, meaning timeframes to achieve an outcome are shorter.”
The Salvation Army was previously the subject of an investigation by the Victorian Parliamentary “Betrayal of Trust” Inquiry, which examined how religious and other organisations handled child abuse cases.
In 2013, after that inquiry, the Salvation Army’s own professional standards unit investigated the organisation’s historical responses to child sexual abuse.
The 2015 report from that investigation found the Salvation Army failed at a systemic level to protect children from child sexual abuse and failed to appropriately respond to claims of such sexual abuse.
The royal commission reviewed the Salvation Army’s investigation and went further, finding that by not reporting allegations of child sexual abuse to the police, abuse was effectively concealed and perpetrators protected.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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