Forrest Tennis Club named as not signing up to the national redress scheme

The redress scheme was introduced three years ago to provide redress to victims of institutional child sexual abuse following the royal commission into the issue.

After several organisations either named in the royal commission report or in claims for redress made to the scheme failed to sign up, the government introduced penalties, including being excluded from government grants and the possibility of losing charitable status.

Many organisations have continued to sign up for the scheme since it was set up, including sports organisations, allowing victims to make applications.

The Forrest Tennis Club, the CYMS Basketball Association in Victoria and Devonport Community Church in Tasmania were named on Wednesday as three organisations that had failed to show intent to sign up the scheme within six months of being named in an application.

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The Ginninderra Cricket Club had been named as one of seven institutions that has taken steps to join the scheme but didn't meet the legislative requirements and could not join the scheme.

Social Services Minister Anne Ruston, who is responsible for the scheme, said the government would expand the funder of last resort provisions to cover institutions that did not meet the requirements to join.

"We committed $22.8 million over four years in the 2021-22 Budget for the Commonwealth's share of expanded funder of last resort costs," Senator Ruston said.

"As this recommendation requires legislative change and agreement to share costs by all jurisdictions we are working with state and territory governments to consider implementing this action as a priority, in consultation with survivors and other scheme stakeholders.

Also announced on Wednesday, terminally ill and elderly survivors of child sex abuse will be able to access up to $10,000 under changes to the national redress scheme.

An independent review found there needed to be a fundamental reset of the application process, with more work needed to drive down wait times and improve survivor experience.

People over 70, or 55 for Indigenous survivors, will be eligible for the payments along with those suffering from a terminal illness.

Senator Ruston said the government wanted to make sure people in those circumstances were given quick access to an advance payment.

"Many of the survivors that are coming forward are in their older years, because the abuse took place a long time ago," Senator Ruston said.

The family or estate of survivors who die during the application process receive payments on their behalf.

Robyn Kruk's inquiry into the second year of the scheme's operation found the process was traumatising and did not engage with survivors sufficiently on application progress.

"The scheme is administratively complex and can be confronting for survivors," she wrote.

The Morrison government has committed to 25 of the 38 recommendations in its interim response to the report.

It argues the remainder constitute major changes to the scheme which require further consultation with survivors, institutions and state governments.

The goal is to provide a full response early next year.

Labor's spokeswoman for families and social services Linda Burney said the report was "tinkering at the edges, at best".

"There is no change to the fundamental issues that survivors have been calling for, for many years, no change to the matrix," she said.

"The government has noted the recommendations about change to the matrix; there is no change to the cap, which is something that Labor has been calling on for a very long time."

The Blue Knot Foundation, which represents the national centre for excellence in complex trauma, including childhood abuse, welcomed the report, but said the government must respond in full more quickly than currently planned.

"The proposed changes must simplify the application process and, crucially, speed it up. A review of the assessment matrix and greater transparency around this is critical," said the foundation's president Cathy Kezelman.

"The current matrix is ill-conceived, ill-informed and its behind-the-scenes application is traumatising."

Dr Kezelman said the new advance payment was a good idea, as was the consideration of equity for all survivors applying.

"Training and quality improvement processes for Independent Decision Makers are a must," she said.

"Decisions must be fair, equitable and informed by current knowledge of institutional child sexual abuse."

Dr Kezelman said improvements to the workforce in the scheme were long overdue.

So far $502.6 million has been paid out across 5920 payments. There has been 10,936 applicants to the scheme and 6670 determinations made.

- With AAP

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