King calls for local redress hearing

FEDERAL Member for Ballarat, Catherine King, is calling on the Joint Select Committee on Implementation of the National Redress Scheme to hold a session in Ballarat.

The committee is looking into the Scheme which was a recommendation from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Public hearings on the scheme are currently set to start in Melbourne on 19 March, before moving to Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Perth over the following two months.

Ms King said experiences of sexual abuse from across the region meant people here “deserve” a local hearing.

“Ballarat has a strong community of survivors who have been a driving force behind the Royal Commission and the formation of the Redress Scheme,” she said. “They deserve the opportunity to make their voices heard, and I strongly encourage the Committee to hold public hearings in Ballarat.”

Ms King said there were several recommendations out of the Royal Commission that were not included in the scheme.

They include things like lifelong access to counselling and psychological care, compulsory sign up to the scheme by states and institutions, and increasing the maximum available for redress claims from $150,000 to $200,000.

“The scheme as it was established was not perfect and it did not fulfil all the recommendations of the Royal Commission,” she said.

“We have always said that the establishment of the National Redress Scheme was not the end of the road, it was the next step in the process towards justice.”