4Simplified outline of this Act

4  Simplified outline of this Act

This Act establishes the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse to provide redress to survivors of past institutional child sexual abuse.

Redress under the scheme is for abuse that is within the scope of the scheme. Abuse of a person is within the scope of the scheme if:

 (a) it occurred when the person was a child; and

 (b) it occurred before the scheme start day; and

 (c) it occurred inside a participating State, inside a Territory, or outside Australia (that is, it did not occur inside a State that is not participating in the scheme).

Redress consists of 3 components:

 (a) a redress payment (of up to $150,000); and

 (b) a counselling and psychological component which, depending on where the person lives, consists of access to counselling and psychological services or a counselling and psychological services payment (of up to $5,000); and

 (c) a direct personal response from each participating institution (and, in certain circumstances, partly‑participating institutions) responsible for the abuse.

To be entitled to redress, a number of conditions need to be met. First, the person must make an application for redress. Then the person must meet the eligibility criteria. These are that:

 (a) the person was sexually abused; and

 (b) the abuse is within the scope of the scheme; and

 (c) the abuse is of a kind for which the maximum amount of redress payment worked out under the assessment framework would be more than nil; and

 (d) one or more participating institutions (or certain other institutions) are responsible for the abuse; and

 (e) at the time of the application, the person is an Australian citizen or a permanent resident.

An institution is responsible for abuse of a person if the abuse occurred in circumstances where the institution is primarily or equally responsible for the abuser having contact with the person. Various circumstances are relevant to determining that question (e.g. whether the abuser was an official of the institution).

The participating institutions are:

 (a) all Commonwealth institutions; and

 (b) any State institution that is declared to be a participating institution; and

 (c) any Territory institution that is declared to be a participating institution; and

 (d) any non‑government institution that is declared to be a participating institution.

If the Operator considers that there is a reasonable likelihood that the person is eligible for redress, the Operator must approve the application and make an offer of redress to the person. The person may accept or decline the offer.