Parliament has passed legislation establishing a formal redress system for survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care.
The Redress System for Abuse in Care Bill concluded its third reading on 24 June with a vocal majority, creating an alternative to court proceedings for survivors seeking compensation and recognition.
Erica Stanford, the minister responsible for coordinating the government's response to the Royal Commission's report into historical abuse in state and faith-based care, announced the bill's completion this week.
How the system works
The legislation creates a redress officer position to assess eligibility for financial compensation. The role is restricted to retired judges, King's Counsel, or senior lawyers.
Survivors can receive five types of redress: care records, financial compensation, wellbeing support, legal services support, and formal apologies.
The system now includes abuse in state mental health facilities between 1 July 1993 and 30 June 2022, addressing a gap in previous arrangements. The law also provides for future schemes covering mental health settings from 1 July 2022 forward.
Restrictions on serious offenders
People convicted of violent or sexual crimes with sentences of five years or longer face a default presumption of ineligibility for financial compensation.
The offences in question are defined under Schedule 1AB of the Sentencing Act 2002, the three strikes offences that include murder, manslaughter, sexual violation, sexual connection with a child, grievous bodily harm, and aggravated robbery.
However, survivors with these convictions retain access to non-financial redress, including records, support services and apologies. The redress officer has discretion to overturn the financial payment bar in individual cases.
The government stated it believes that providing financial payments to survivors with serious violent or sexual convictions could damage public confidence or bring the state redress system into disrepute.
Terminally ill survivors with a prognosis under six months can be exempted from the serious offender assessment process.
Implementation timeline
Most provisions take effect the day after Royal assent. The serious offender assessment process begins on 1 August 2026.
The mental health facility provisions will be implemented on 14 July 2027, though some survivors have already pre-registered.
The restrictions on financial payments apply to all new claims made to state agencies since 9 May 2025. An interim process has operated for survivors making claims during the transition period.
Officials project up to 80 redress claims annually. Funding may be insufficient if demand exceeds this forecast.