Australia begins sex abuse compensation scheme
Australia has begun a compensation scheme for victims of institutional child sex abuse. Some 60,000 Australians will be eligible for compensation. The scheme, known as the National Redress Scheme.
Australian authorities believe a A$4bn ($3bn; £2.23bn) compensation plan will help to ease the pain of victims. Financial redress was a key recommendation of a Royal Commission into decades-long child abuse in Australian institutions.
The Commission spent five years investigating suffering and abuse in religious organizations, schools, charities, sports clubs and the military. The Australian government accepted almost all of the landmark inquiry recommendations. If victims apply for the redress scheme, they sign away their right to sue.
"We stand united in support of the estimated 60,000 people who were abused by trusted organizations that should have protected them," Australia's Social Services Minister Dan Tehan said in a statement. Many state governments and religious groups, including the Catholic Church, have joined the scheme.
Doug Goulter faced years of sexual abuse in a Melbourne children's home and then in a Sydney jail from the age of 17. He told Australian broadcaster ABC the impact of the abuse had lasted a lifetime. "Even with the people you love, you can't be too intimate, and you can't even talk to them about it because they don't want to feel your pain," Goulter said.
