$4.3b scheme plan for child sex abuse payouts

A national scheme costing more than $4.3 billion has been proposed by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to compensate victims from church, government and other institutions.

Commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan released a 300-page consultation paper yesterday to canvass options to give justice to an estimated 65,000 abuse survivors.

The favoured scheme would give an average payout of $65,000 with contributions from the institutions' governing bodies. Commentators estimated one-third could come from the Catholic Church.

Justice McClellan said that though many preferred a single scheme administered by the Federal Government, there were other options, including State-based programs.

"The consultation paper suggests effective redress must have three elements - personal response by the institution to the survivor, guaranteed funding when needed for counselling and psychological care and a sum paid in recognition of the wrong done to the individual," he said.

"It is clear that a scheme should be structured so that the decision making about redress is independent of the institution in which the abuse occurred.

"It is also clear that survivors want a scheme that will treat them fairly and equally."

Commissioners spoke to more than 2850 survivors in private sessions over two years.

"Each session reveals a unique personal story of betrayal of a child's trust with, for many, lifelong consequences," Justice McClellan said. There were many considerations for the sum, including fairness and affordability.

The paper also proposed relaxation of legal time limits for damages claims and an urgent national framework for working with children checks.

"It may come as a surprise to many people that although discussed by governments for years, Australia still does not have a national or otherwise uniform system for checking the pre-employment history of a person who seeks to work in a paid or voluntary capacity with children," Justice McClellan said.

He said it was a significant failure of government that Australia did not have a uniform system for checking the history of a person wanting to interact with children.

Victims' groups and institutions, including the Catholic Church, welcomed the report.

Former child migrant John Hennessey, who gave moving testimony at the commission's Perth hearings into abuse at Christian Brothers orphanages, said he was delighted victims had been heard.

"The WA experience shocked the commission to the core," he said.