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REDRESS
FOR VICTIMS OF ABUSE IN STATE CARE Radio Interview ROB BROKENSHIRE MLC 27 March 2009 Radio
Adelaide |
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Robert
Brokenshire, Family First MLC (Radio
Adelaide 721-7.30) Bill to give wards of the state
abuse victims compensation payments within a year (Davidian: … sexual abuse of former wards of state
and the contents of the Mullighan inquiry have been
brought back into the focus recently and up to 140 victims of child abuse in
state institutions or foster care began proceedings earlier this year for a
State Government compensation, so far the Government have pushed former wards
to the Victims of Crime Fund but according to … Robert Brokenshire,
that scheme doesn’t go far enough, his party has put forward a Private
Members Bill to Parliament which hopes to give victims compensation payments
within a year … good morning Rob … tell us what exactly the Bill
entails?) sure … this to
us is a very important deal, just for recollection … it was my
predecessor the Hon Andrew Evans from Family First to actually move the
Private Members Bill that ensured that people that were wards of the state
that received very bad abuse or any abuse for that matter, prior to 1982,
those perpetrators would now be able to be brought before the court, so that
was a Private Members Bill that worked and we’re hoping that this
Private Members Bill will also work for these victims because they’ve
waited too long, they need closure, I meet with a number of them and I really
feel for them and they are wanting this closure and redress is clearly part
of that and unfortunately so far I have to say I’ve been disappointed
the Government have been too slow to help these victims (Davidian: You said the Victim of Crime levy doesn’t go far
enough and that’s what the State Government is offering, but what type
of compensation do you think they should be receiving?) we don’t believe it goes far enough and I should
say … the legislation that we’re putting before the Parliament in
the next few weeks for debate doesn’t preclude any victim from taking
civil action if they feel they’ve been so severely abused, that they
need significant compensation, but what we’re doing is we’re
doing something very similar to what some of the other states have done, in
fact three other states have had a redress scheme and some of those have
already finished paying out their victims and another state finishes paying
them out in April, what we’re actually doing is streamlining the whole
thing and we’re saying that all the victims, not only the ones that
have come up through the Mullighan inquiry, but any
victim that it was awarded the state and was abused, will be able to for a
claim and they’ll have a year to lodge the claim and it will be
streamlined so they’ll be able to – for claimants who actually
establish that they have suffered some abuse but not necessarily significant,
they’ll automatically get $7,000 through the scheme, but for those who
have actually had more significant abuse, there’d be an additional sum
of up to $43,000 so effectively what we’re trying to do is say these
people have had enough adversity in their life, let’s streamline this
process, they’ve got up to a year to apply and they’d be fairly
automatically under this Bill to be able to receive up to $50,000 depending
on the situation with their own abuse (Davidian: You
said three other states have a redress scheme already in place, what is it
about South Australia that has prevented us from joining those other states?) that’s a very good question, I have to say at this
stage I think the answers are pretty a straight forward one, and that is a
lack of will, we had an apology in the Parliament and that’s OK but as
politicians and as a government, if we’re serious about any apology,
whether it’s to our indigenous people or in this case, the wards of the
state that have been sexually abused … we have to go further than that,
we’ve got to actually put our money where our mouths are as far as
Family First are concerned, so what we’re saying is if three other
states can streamline this, we can also, the other point with this that we
actually have in the legislation is that we want a personal apology, a
written personal apology to those victims, now former wards of the state have
actually been telling me that the blanket apology to them by the government
and the Opposition and the rest of us in Parliament is appreciated but
they’re saying … they don’t believe that’s sufficient
for the personal abuse that they’ve suffered so we’ve actually
put a clause in here that says that they receive a written personal apologies
as well and the other point with the Bill that’s worth pointing out
… under the Commissioner of Victims of Rights, we would be requiring an
establishment of a one stop shop, so they’ve all got a place to go for
support services (Davidian: The Mullighan Inquiry, the
victims’ lawyer, Peter Humphries said that some claims are only possible
because that inquiry has uncovered some previously unavailable Government
reports that detailed the abuse, is that going to help along with their
applications?) well I wouldn’t be
sure under the Bill if we can get the Bill through, that what the work that
Peter Humphries has done and highlighted there would assist and that’s
the whole issue, what we’re trying to do now, now that we’ve been
able to get that legislation amended by … Andrew Evans, we’ve had
the Mullighan Inquiry, we’ve got all of the processes
now proven, this Bill is about the Attorney-General’s Department having
a very clear and simple process to deal with each of these victims because
the land thing we want to do, is see these victims suffer more trauma, just
in going to get some basic compensation and written apology, so this Bill is
a bit different to some of the Bills in the Parliament, some are very complex
but this one will be as simple as possible to make it as easy as we can for
those victims (Davidian: Where can these victims directly go, especially some
that haven’t been in contact with a lawyer …?) that’s a good question, I need to reiterate to
your listeners that we’re in the process of introducing this Bill and
this Bill has to then go through Parliamentary debate in both houses, so it
will take some time, but having said that, and just before I get to answer
your question specifically, I’m hoping that by bringing this Bill in,
that it will actually stimulate our government … saying this feels
right, we proceed quickly with this and it could be fast tracked … from
the Government … in the meantime if victims are concerned …
having problems, obviously as a politician I’m not a lawyer and
it’s people like Peter Humphries and other legal people, they can talk
to, if they want to actually speak to me about what we’re doing with
the Bill and get a more detailed understanding, they can ring me at
Parliament and I’ll be very happy to make a time to meet with them (Davidian: … thanks …) thank you … the number is 8237 9122 but I appreciate
the opportunity and let’s hope this assists those special people
because they need all the support that they can get (Davidian: … we’ll put that number on our website
…) good on you, bye. |
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