Survivors of historic child sexual abuse while in the care of state government agencies are being subjected to further trauma through government mismanagement.
Shadow Attorney General Ella Haddad said people are experiencing delays of up to a year just to have a date set for a meeting with government.
“These are people who suffered unspeakable trauma as children, now they’re waiting an unreasonable length of time to have the matter settled.
“They deserve to be treated with respect.
“The government has said their preferred option is to hold informal settlement conferences where the details of the case are heard and compensation set.
“But Elise Archer has not allocated enough resources to ensure a smooth and timely process.”
Ms Haddad said faced with lengthy delays, many survivors were resorting to taking matters to the Supreme Court for resolution instead.
“These are people who have already suffered trauma over years or decades as young people. Now they feel they have no option but to take their case through an unsettling court process to get an outcome.
“This puts them through needless and avoidable stress. It’s shameful that more trauma is being added to the harm they experienced as children.
“In other states the process is much faster. For example in Victoria, a settlement conference takes 12-18 weeks from lodgement to awarding of compensation. In Tasmania it’s taking more than a year just to get a date for a settlement conference.
“It is simply not an acceptable way to treat survivors of childhood sexual abuse. If the Minister thinks it’s ok, that’s deeply disturbing.
“The Minister needs to back up her words with action and dedicate resources to management of settlement conferences, to avoid even more harm to these survivors.”
Ella Haddad MP
Shadow Attorney General
