Redress fund has Anglican support

THE Anglican Church, the Salvation Army, the Scouts and the YMCA will join the $3.8 billion national redress scheme, meaning 80 per cent of child sexual abuse survivors will be covered.

The Anglicans reached an “in-principle agreement” to join, a day after the Catholic Church said it would join in the scheme.

“We know that some survivors of abuse have chosen not to engage in our present institutional redress schemes,” the Anglican Primate, Archbishop Philip Freier, said in a statement yesterday.

“We hope that our participation in the independent National Redress Scheme will offer a further step to healing.”

The dioceses of Melbourne, Brisbane and Tasmania had already resolved to join and others were expected soon, the church said.

Meanwhile, an independent incorporated entity is being established to provide a single point of engagement to enable Anglican bodies to join as part of a national group.

The YMCA also said yesterday it was working with all 19 YMCAs across Australia to help ensure it could be part of the scheme.

“We all share the responsibility for responding to survivors of child abuse, just as we all share the responsibility to make sure every child in Australia is safe and protected,” YMCA Australia chief executive officer Melinda Crole said. “We can’t change the past for survivors, but we can change their future. An effective national redress scheme is critical for ensuring justice and healing for survivors.”

Scouts Australia chief commissioner Neville Tomkins praised the Government for providing the scheme to recognise the impact of “horrific crimes”.

Major Brad Halse said the Salvation Army was “profoundly sorry” for the abuse and his organisation wanted to be ready for the redress scheme from July 1.

Legislation to enable the opt-in scheme passed federal Parliament’s Lower House on Tuesday night, and federal Social Services Minister Dan Tehan said the scheme could begin on July 1 if it passed the Senate.

Western Australia is the final state yet to sign up, although it is expected to do so within six to eight weeks.

The scheme will cover about 60,000 institutional child sexual abuse survivors nationally, with compensation payments capped at $150,000.

WE HOPE THAT OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE … REDRESS SCHEME WILL OFFER A FURTHER STEP TO HEALING ARCHBISHOP PHILIP FREIER