I am very pleased the House of Assembly has today passed the Limitation Amendment Bill 2017, which will make it easier for victims of child sexual abuse to seek damages.
The Bill takes the major step of retrospectively abolishing the time limitation for civil claims for damages for survivors of child sexual abuse, in line with recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
It also goes further by extending the abolition of the time limitation to physical abuse because the consequences are similarly traumatic and often connected to sexual abuse. It is also not restricted to sexual or physical abuse in an institutional setting.
Survivors of sexual abuse often find it very difficult to report the crimes perpetrated against them to authorities, which then impacts on when crimes are reported and civil litigation can be taken.
The impacts of child sexual abuse can last a lifetime and victims do not need any unnecessary obstacles placed in their way when seeking justice, and this Bill will rectify the current situation and recognise the unique circumstances that arise from sexual or physical abuse of a child.
This legislation builds on other measures we have taken to provide justice for victims of child sexual abuse, including our ongoing commitment to introduce minimum mandatory sentences for predators who sexually abuse children.