A WA inquiry will examine the support and compensation available to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.

June 22, 2023

The support and compensation available to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse in Western Australia will be put under the microscope.

The WA parliament’s Community Development and Justice Standing Committee has launched an inquiry into the options available to survivors seeking justice and restitution.

“Concerns have been expressed that there are barriers to accessing the civil court remedies, such as difficulty obtaining timely hearing dates,” chair David Honey told AAP on Thursday.

He said a lack of suitably qualified lawyers prepared to act on such matters and allegations some institutions were deliberately delaying some elderly survivor’s claims were also issues.

The inquiry will investigate the experience of survivors who have used the civil litigation process and the response from the courts, government and non-government institutions.

It will also examine the effectiveness of the National Redress Scheme, along with any barriers to timely resolution of civil claims and the support given to survivors who used it.

Other options to provide justice, resolution and compensation to survivors and their families will also be considered.

Victims, support organisations and respondents in civil claims can make submissions.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which delivered its final report in 2017, estimated about 60,000 people were sexually abused as children in Australian Institutions.

The committee expects to report its findings by June next year.