Sanctions target National Redress Scheme laggards

Institutions refusing to join the National Redress Scheme face having their charity status stripped, becoming ineligible for government grants and losing tax concessions.

Social Services Minister Anne Ruston. Picture: Gary Ramage

Religious and community institutions refusing to join the National Redress Scheme face having their charity status stripped, becoming ineligible for government grants and losing tax concessions under legislation aimed at forcing them to “accept their moral obligation”.

The new sanctions, which will be tabled in parliament next week, target groups that have not signed up to the redress scheme, with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission given powers to deregister them if they don’t make steps to join by February.

The Morrison government in January will publicly name and shame institutions that refuse to join the scheme, which began in mid-2018 and runs for 10 years.

Most of the 80 outstanding ­institutions, with more than half holding charitable status, are expected to join by December 31. Holdouts include Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lakes Entrance Pony Club, Kenja Communications and Fairbridge Restored Limited.

Social Services Minister Anne Ruston on Friday will announce that a further 70 institutions have joined the scheme, helping to process more than 150 redress applications. Senator Ruston told The Australian the government was committed to sanction “recalcitrant institutions”.

“The Morrison government has been absolutely clear that we expect institutions named by a survivor in an application or named in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to join the National Redress Scheme,” Senator Ruston said.

“It is completely unacceptable for named institutions to refuse to accept their moral obligation and responsibility to acknowledge the wrongs committed.

“This proposal delivers on the Prime Minister’s commitment to place further sanctions on recalcitrant institutions, and we hope this will encourage them to reconsider their position, allowing child sexual abuse survivors to receive the redress and recognition they undeniably deserve.”

The Assistant Minister for ­Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters, Zed Seselja, said the new ACNC governance standard would require registered charities to take “all reasonable steps” to join the scheme if a claim has been made against them. The government will introduce its legislation through the Treasury Laws Amendment Bill.

“The government will also introduce legislation this year which amends the definition of a basic religious charity (BRC) in the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission Act 2012 to remove a religious institution’s eligibility to be classified as a BRC if it has been named in an application but refuses to join the scheme,” Senator Seselja said.

“Together, these changes will result in a registered charity which fails to join the scheme or take reasonable steps to participate in the scheme becoming ­subject to a suite of the ACNC’s existing compliance powers, including deregistration — which would result in the entity losing access to a range of commonwealth benefits.”

Senator Ruston said 14 of the 70 institutions to have recently joined the scheme were named by the royal commission.

“I am encouraged to see institutions doing the honourable thing by survivors and signing up. It also demonstrates leadership in the community with a commitment to child safety and to ensure the wrongs of the past never happen again,” she said.

Senator Ruston said the 80 institutions that flagged an intention to join the scheme before the June 30 deadline had until December 31 to complete the “steps to sign on or they will be publicly named and face sanctions”.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, one of the most prominent holdouts, was described in the royal commission as overseeing systemic problems in dealing with abuse.

The royal commission heard that the Jehovah’s Witnesses had documentation of abuse allegations by 1800 children involving more than 1000 perpetrators.