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Queensland legislation broadens scope of civil action for child abuse survivors
New legislation in Queensland will allow abuse survivors to pursue civil claims against liable institutions for physical and psychological distress.
Naomi Neilson
The change will improve access to justice for abuse survivors, including setting aside the statue of limitations for survivors to bring civil claims. Lawyers have welcomed the extension of the definition of child abuse to include serious physical abuse, abuse from a psychological nature and neglect perpetrated in connection with child abuse.
“We estimate that there are currently around 60,000 Australians who were subjected to serious physical and psychological abuse during their time in notorious institutions, such as Westbrook Boys Home and Neerkol Orphanage in Rockhampton,” Mr McNamara explained.
“But until now, children who were physically abused from Queensland institutions have had very limited scope to receive compensation.”
He said the change is important as compensation under the National Redress Scheme is only available to a person who was sexually abused, or sexually and physically hurt. If there is no history of sexual abuse, “then no matter how terrible any physical abuse or related psychological abuse, there is no entitlement to National Redress”.
The Limitation of Actions Act has been amended, abolishing limitation periods relating to civil claims for serious physical and “connected” abuse, with retrospective effects.
This removes the three-year limitation period that would have ordinarily applied to civil compensation claims for the wider meaning of child abuse.
“It recognises that a survivor of child abuse will take on average longer than 20 years to disclose what happened; and longer again before they find courage to seek justice,” he said.
Mr McNamara said other important changes include the ability to claim against “related entity” if the original institution no longer exists, and the reverse onus of proof, meaning the institution must prove they took all reasonable steps to prevent the abuse.
“The Queensland government [is] to be commended for these reforms, which [enable] many more survivors to access their fully legal rights to compensation,” he said.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
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