As of April 2022, the Australian National Redress Scheme (NRS):-
- Had received 15,280 applications.
- Made 9,417 decisions – including 8,087 payments, totalling over AUS$700.1 million, with an average award of redress of AUS$86,566.
- Had made 9,167 offers for redress. (Readers of this Blog will be aware that Applicants to the NRS have six months to consider their offer of redress).
- 5,638 applications are currently being progressed.
- 710 are on hold or paused, including 113 applications due to institution not participating (representing 1.8% of applications on hand).
The total number of applications finalised and redress payments from establishment to date are 8,476 applications with redress of AUS$700.1 million having been paid out to date.
There still remains a number of institutions that were either named in the Royal Commission and/or in an application made to the NRS that have failed to join the NRS and they are:-
CYMS Basketball Association, VIC
Devonport Community Church, TAS
Forrest Tennis Club, ACT
Kenja Communication, NSW
Woodlands Golf Club, VIC
As previously advised these institutions will have financial sanctions applied and may lose their charitable status until such times as they join the NRS.
However, the ongoing effectiveness of the NRS (where the average award of redress is AUS$86,566) in finally determining claims relating to CSA must surely be impacted by very significant damages that claimant’s are recovering in the Courts in Australia.
In our Blog on New South Wales Supreme Court, we commented on a recent judgement handed down by the Supreme Court in New South Wales where damages totalling AUS$1,353,850 including AUS$400,000 for general damages and AUS$40,00 for aggravated damages were awarded to a defendant who was sexually assaulted when he was aged between 14 and 16 years old.
This has been recently followed with an award of AUS$1.9 million to a former altar boy who brought a civil claim against Melbourne’s archbishop, Peter Comensoli, claiming the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne was vicariously liable for him being sexually abused by Victorian priest Desmond Gannon.
It is likely that this is one of the contributing factors to the sluggish rate at which applications for redress are being received by the NRS.
Written by Sharon Moohan, Large Loss Casualty Partner (Sharon.Moohan@blmlaw.com)