Submission to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse: Redress and Civil Litigation

This submission responds to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse consultation paper on redress and civil litigation. The consultation paper considers a number of proposed features of a redress scheme and possible changes to civil litigation which would be needed to compensate survivors of childhood sexual abuse in institutional care. Drawing principally on PIAC’s experience in relation to seeking compensation on behalf of Stolen Generations clients and with the Stolen Wages redress scheme, PIAC recommends a national redress scheme be established. Such a scheme should have low barriers to access, with the provision of independent legal advice and support factored into the funding model. PIAC also recommends that accessing the redress scheme should not be a barrier to civil litigation and that there should be no limitation periods imposed on these claims.