New redress officer must be a retired Judge, King’s counsel, or senior lawyer with relevant skills
Erica Stanford, lead coordination minister for the government’s response to the Royal Commission's report into historical abuse in state care and in the care of faith-based institutions, highlighted that the Redress System for Abuse in Care Bill passed its third reading.
The government’s news release noted that most provisions of the legislation will come into force the day after royal assent.
Under the bill, a state redress scheme seeks to acknowledge an individual’s experience of abuse in care and provide an alternative to litigation for redress for such abuse.
“The Bill also resolves a long-standing gap in redress where survivors of abuse in mental health facilities after 1993 faced dead-ends and a lack of recognition,” Stanford said in the news release.
She explained that the legislation extends the state redress scheme to cover claims of abuse in state mental health facilities from 1 July 1993 to 30 June 2022, thus giving effect to Charlotte’s Change.
“This extension will be implemented on 28 July 2026, with some people already pre-registered,” she said in the news release. “The Bill has also been future-proofed to include a redress scheme which covers abuse in mental health settings from 1 July 2022.”
In its news release, the government noted that the legislation provides a presumption against financial redress for survivors with convictions for certain serious sexual and/or violent offences who have received a sentence of at least five years.
“The Government considers that a financial payment to survivors with convictions for serious violent or sexual offences, who were sentenced to five years or more, could bring the State redress system into disrepute or adversely affect public confidence in the redress system,” Stanford said.
She clarified that the legislation will limit the presumption to financial redress payments, which means that survivors with serious violent or sexual offences can still access other types of redress, including an apology, access to care records, and wellbeing and legal services support.
In the government’s news release, Stanford said the bill will introduce a redress officer, an independent decision-maker who will:
She noted that the redress officer should be a retired Judge, King’s counsel, or senior lawyer with experience and skills pertinent to the role.
