CHILD SEX ABUSE VICTIMS —
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS REMOVAL — CONDINGUP GROUP
382. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Attorney General:
I refer to the statute of
limitations legislation for victims of child sex abuse that was carried through
Parliament 18 months ago, when the Attorney General personally assured
survivors that compensation would be swift and they could get on with their
lives. What does the Attorney General say to victims, including the Condingup
group in my electorate, who have endured multiple psychiatric assessments and
are now being pursued by the Department of Education and state lawyers to
relive abuse by supplying information already provided multiple times?
Mr J.R.
QUIGLEY replied:
I thank the member for his
question. It is very tragic that these people have waited so long for
compensation. They would not have waited
this long had the National Party not joined with the Liberal Party in defeating
our amendments to the statute of limitations that we introduced to this
Parliament from the opposition bench some years ago. We undertook to attend to
this as soon as we got into government, and, of course, we amended the statute
of limitations. Since we amended the statute
of limitations, there have been 457 claims overall, of which 106 have been
settled and 327 remain active. In
relation to the Condingup matters—I have had a conversation behind the
Chair with the member and we will continue to cooperate with him—there
are five outstanding claims. In relation to those five outstanding claims, the
State Solicitor is still waiting to receive three statements of claim from the
solicitors so that they can be assessed.
That has not happened. I do not want to mention either the firm or the victims'
names, but unfortunately there was a bit of a lack of movement by a practitioner
at the firm that was handling this matter. That practitioner has now parted
ways with that employer and the matters are now moving forward. Of the five
claims, as I said, the State Solicitor is waiting for three statements of claim
to be filed. There has to be a statement of claim. We have to look after the
taxpayers. Someone cannot just write a note and then we pay out a large sum;
there has to be a statement of claim. We are waiting for three statements of
claim. It is incredible that after all this time those three statements have
not arrived.
I do not want to mention the names
of the other two people involved, but I think the member would know them. I will
refer to one as ''G''. In relation to ''G'', who
was one of the five claimants, no statement of claim has been received, only a writ
of summons that was amended on 19 April 2020. In relation to ''G'''s
sister, ''S'', we have received the statement of claim and some
medical reports but no medical history and no financial records. The solicitors
acting for ''S'' agree that it is necessary to provide that
information but they have been unable to provide it thus far. The plaintiff
solicitors have asked whether it could all be done informally without going to
the agreed joint medical experts, and the State Solicitor is currently
considering that.
We
have the utmost sympathy for the survivors of the child sexual abuse. This is
why, five or six years ago from the other side of this chamber, I moved
to amend the statute of limitations, but the then Attorney General, Hon Michael
Mischin, stood firm and would not allow claims to proceed and would always
plead the statute of limitations to lock those survivors out of court. We are
doing all that we reasonably can. We look forward to better cooperation from
the plaintiff's lawyers. I will help the member and answer a further
supplementary question. I am so concerned that if he wants to discuss it behind
the Speaker's chair after question time, I am happy to do that too
without revealing any personal details in this chamber of the survivors
themselves. Thank you, member.