The Tasmanian Government is continuing to participate in discussions with the Commonwealth and other states and territories to finalise the arrangements for the Commonwealth Redress Scheme, and technical details underpinning it.
These arrangements need to be finalised before an assessment of the funds required to be committed by the State to support the scheme can be determined.
The Tasmanian Government remains committed to ensuring redress for victims of child sexual abuse. The Tasmanian Government has also implemented an earlier redress scheme for abuse in State care but we recognise more needs to be done. The Abuse in State Care compensation scheme operated between July 2003 and February 2013 and assisted more than 1,800 survivors who were the subject of sexual, physical or emotional abuse whilst in State care as children.
In total, the State made ex gratia payments worth over $54 million. Those payments were wholly funded by the State regardless of whether the claimants were abused in wholly State run institutions or institutions operated by non-government organisations on behalf of the State. In doing so, the Tasmanian Government provided equal access for claimants irrespective of the institution or type of abuse.
Although applications to the Abuse in State Care scheme closed in 2013, the Tasmanian Government established the Abuse in State Care Support Service that provides an ongoing scheme for eligible survivors of abuse in State care. The Service is aimed at assisting survivors overcome the impacts of the abuse and improve their lives.
Legislation to abolish the limitation periods for civil claims for victims of child sexual and physical abuse are expected to introduced to the Parliament in the Spring session. This legislation is not related to the Commonwealth Redress Scheme.