Procedure and amount of redress payment
Survivors of institutional child sexual abuse can apply for redress by calling the NRS to request an application form be mailed to their nominated address or they can create a myGov account to complete the form on-line. The applicant is required to fill-in details of the assault, the assailant(s), and the institution(s). A further one-and-a-half-page space is allotted to ''“describe the impact of sexual abuse across your life”''. The process does not involve face-to-face assessment meetings. This application is assessed using the "reasonable likelihood" as its burden of proof, a lower burden of proof when compared to a civil case in a court of law which requires a "balance of probabilities", which is much harder to prove. If an application is accepted, then the amount of a redress payment is calculated by an Independent Decision Maker under an Assessment Framework that sets out the maximum amounts for components of redress as follows:Participating institutions
Where child sexual abuse is identified by the Scheme Operator as having occurred in an institution it is approached to participate in the Scheme. Applicants are able to search for participating institutions on the NRS website. By late February, 2019, many institutions had still not joined the scheme. In response, the Department of Social Services released a list of 100 institutions that had not signed up.Catholic Church participation
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) formed a company called Australian Catholic Redress Limited (ACRL) in 2018. This was done on behalf of the 35 Archdioceses, Dioceses, Eparchies and Ordinariates that covers the vast proportion of Australian Catholics. The ACRL joined the National Redress Scheme in 2018. The ACBC also encouraged the various Institutes of Clerical Religious (Priests or Priests and Brothers) the Institutes of Religious Brothers, Institutes of Religious Women, Institutes of Consecrated Life, Societies of Apostolic Life, Associations of Christ’s Faithful, and the Ministerial Public Juridic Persons who are separate entities to ACRL to also join the National Redress Scheme. Those that had involvement with young people have generally joined the scheme.Non Participating institutions
As of May, 2021, the government Commission lists these 8 institutions as declining to participate: * Fairbridge Society * Gold Coast Family Support Group (now FSG Australia) * Hunter Aboriginal Children’s Services (HACS) * RG Dance Pty Ltd * Yeshiva Centre and the Yeshiva College Bondi – pre 2003 * Yeshivah Centre Melbourne (Chabad Institutions of Victoria Ltd.)* * Mordialloc Sailing Club ''Note: * indicates They have stated that they intend to participate at some time in the future.''Criticism
The NRS has attracted criticism from abuse survivors, survivor advocate groups, lawyers, representatives of the Anglican Church, and politicians. Much of this criticism has focused on the assessment matrix used by the scheme to calculate compensation. Whereas the Royal Commission's recommended matrix was based on a 100 point system - 40 points for the abuse severity, 40 for impact, and 20 for institutional factors - to determine payments up to a maximum of $200 000, the Guardian reported that the maximum payout of $150,000 was only possible in extreme circumstances involving sexual abuse with penetration. For those survivors who suffered non-penetrative sexual abuse (which may include oral sex), the maximum payout under the scheme is $50 000, regardless of the number of times they were abused, the number of institutions in which they were abused, or the impact of the abuse. Tasmania's Anglican Bishop, Richard Condie commented the way the assessment matrix is designed would limit payouts. Lawyer, Judy Courtin also described the matrix unfair and not anResponse to criticism
TheReferences
{{Reflist Child sexual abuse in Australia 2018 establishments in AustraliaExternal links