COMMITTEES
Ms BELYEA (Dunkley) (10:19): On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Implementation of the National Redress Scheme, I present the committee's report entitled Their courage, our responsibility: the continuing operation of the National Redress Scheme and Australia’s commitment to survivors. Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).
Ms BELYEA: by leave—It is both a profound responsibility and a deeply personal privilege to table this report on the continuing operation and future of the National Redress Scheme, Their courage, our responsibility. As chair of this inquiry, this past 12 months, the committee and I have been committed to ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the scheme's operation, including the challenges, barriers and opportunities for improvement identified by support services and, most importantly, survivors who have engaged with the scheme.
Particular attention has been given to understanding what is required to provide meaningful survivor centred and trauma informed redress for those the scheme was established to support and how to process the growing number of applications. Since this inquiry commenced on 30 October 2025, the committee has received 54 submissions, including 36 from organisations and government agencies, and has heard from survivors with lived experience, advocacy bodies, support services and government representatives.
Thank you to all of you for your submissions and contributions to this inquiry. Your contributions have informed the 31 recommendations in the report. Some of these include ensuring a survivor centred scheme grounded in trauma informed practice, the case for an extension beyond 2028, preserving capability through increased resourcing, ensuring the integrity of the scheme and building a lasting legacy.
The National Redress Scheme is a world first initiative, established in 2018 in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It represents Australia's most significant national effort to acknowledge the abhorrent harm caused by institutional sexual abuse and provides survivors with a pathway to recognition, redress and support outside the court system.
When the scheme was established, it was anticipated that around 60,000 survivors would apply. Today, more than 85,000 applications have been received, with indications the numbers may reach 109,000, nearly double the projected applications. These figures are distressing.
They reveal a level of abuse and institutional failure far greater than anticipated. As a survivor of sexual abuse as a child, I approached this inquiry with both the responsibility entrusted to me as chair and an understanding of the lived experience that so many survivors carry. This was never simply an inquiry about legislation, administration or government programs.
It was about people. We heard from survivors about disrupted education, unemployment, poor health, isolation, anxiety, depression and difficulties forming and sustaining relationships. We heard how trauma can re-emerge throughout a person's life - through parenthood, relationships, illness, ageing and grief.
We heard healing and recovery don't meet an administrative timeline or end date. They are lifelong. This scheme exists because survivors spoke up and have continued to these past eight years.
No scheme can undo what was done. But a scheme such as the National Redress Scheme can: acknowledge the harm, recognise the suffering and provide support and validation. It can say clearly: what happened to you was wrong.
You are believed. You deserve to be heard, supported and respected.' Throughout this inquiry, the most important voices were those of survivors. The courage of survivors who shared their experiences with the committee cannot be overstated.
Many revisited some of the most painful experiences of their lives so that others might be better protected into the future. Your courage has helped shape this report. The committee heard that the scheme has made a genuine difference in the lives of many.
For some survivors, redress was the first formal acknowledgement from an institution that the harm inflicted upon them had occurred. For others, counselling, psychological support, personal responses and simply being heard were every bit as important as financial compensation. But we also heard really clearly where the scheme must improve.
Survivors described lengthy delays, difficulty accessing records and processes that could feel both overwhelming and retraumatising. We heard concerns about high-control groups, unresolved claims, legal fees, claim farming and the barriers faced by some of the most vulnerable applicants. We heard trauma-informed practice cannot be an aspiration.
It must be embedded in every stage of the scheme. That means compassion, dignity and respect - alongside accountability, good governance and integrity. Throughout this inquiry I met survivors who had only recently learned about the scheme.
Others told us they had spent years deciding whether they were emotionally ready to engage and only recently disclosed their experiences to family members or support services. The committee also heard compelling evidence that the scheme should continue beyond 2028, with the extension of the deadline for applications to 2027 and the continuation of the scheme until all applications are finalised.
These recommendations require serious and urgent consideration. The inquiry also heard that the support surrounding the scheme must not disappear when the scheme eventually concludes. Counsellors, advocates, legal assistance providers, survivor organisations and support services have developed invaluable expertise in supporting people experiencing complex trauma.
That expertise must be preserved because survivors' needs will continue, and Australia's responsibility must continue alongside them, because recovery from abuse is lifelong. The National Redress Scheme must leave more than a record of payments made and applications processed. It must leave a lasting legacy.
Future survivors should not have to wait for another national reckoning before receiving support, recognition or access to justice. And, importantly, support and integrity must go together. A survivor-centred scheme must also be a scheme of integrity.
Strong safeguards against fraud, claim farming and exploitative legal practices must protect survivors and ensure redress reaches those for whom it is intended. As the scheme enters its final phase, rigorous assessment, quality assurance and appropriate fraud prevention and enforcement will be essential. I want to thank my fellow committee members, particularly: the deputy chair, Senator Dean Smith; the member for Griffith; Senator David Shoebridge; and Senator Richard Dowling.
Your collaboration and commitment to this inquiry have resulted in a bipartisan support for this report. I also extend sincere gratitude to the committee secretariat, whose professionalism, expertise and dedication were central to this report. Thank you personally to Eva Glisich and to Joel Bateman.
To every redress support service who contributed to this inquiry: thank you for your commitment to sharing your experiences and recommendations. And, most importantly, to every survivor: thank you for your courage, your honesty and for entrusting us with your stories. This report is dedicated to you, every victim-survivor of institutional child sexual abuse.
May it contribute to a future in which survivors are heard, believed, supported and respected. May it strengthen accountability and drive further reform. The impacts of institutional sexual abuse endure.
And so too must our commitment to justice, healing, redress and prevention. I move: That the House take note of the report.