Forrest Tennis Club urged to sign up to national child abuse redress scheme

For the first time, the two survivors have publicly urged the club to take responsibility for child abuse committed in the 1980s.

"We are speaking out because Forrest Tennis Club, despite knowing that crimes were committed on their premises more than 30 years ago, and despite a criminal conviction of their contracted coach, has failed to demonstrate any accountability or responsibility," the victims said.

"The club has a duty to protect children under their care. It has failed to demonstrate any intention of meeting this obligation."

The Forrest Tennis Club was banned from receiving Australian government grants in June after it was named as one of three institutions that failed to sign 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.

ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates has renewed the push for the club to take responsibility for what happened 38 years ago.

"Last year, the Chief Justice of the ACT Supreme Court imposed a two-year suspended prison sentence on Mr Cattle for child abuse committed against these community members.

"Although a former club coach was convicted of abuse, the club has failed to take responsibility for this abuse either publicly, or privately in correspondence with the victims.

"The club's stance is extremely concerning. It also sends a disturbing message to any parent, child or young person currently involved in the club.

"The community has the right to expect that any sporting organisation in such a position would acknowledge past wrongs and work hard to implement child safe standards, to minimise the possibility of any other child being harmed."

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Ms Yates has urged the club to publicly acknowledge the abuse, implement child-safe measures and sign up for the redress scheme.

"The club needs to urgently demonstrate to parents, children and the community that they will put measures in place to protect current and future junior tennis players," Ms Yates said.

"If the club cannot act swiftly to remedy this regrettable situation, I do not believe they should be eligible to receive funding or support from the ACT government, Tennis ACT or Tennis Australia."

In a statement, The Forrest Tennis Club said it supports the rights of victims of sexual and physical abuse, and their right to fair compensation.

"Over the past six months the FTC committee has engaged in good faith with officials from the National Redress Scheme to better understand the complex process and implications of signing up to the NRS," a spokesman said.

"However, the committee was not in a position to sign up to the scheme before an NRS-imposed deadline, which led to the Club being publicly named."

The spokesman said the club had not ruled out joining the scheme and would continue to engage with the NRS.

"For legal reasons the club is not able to comment further publicly on this matter," the spokesman said.

Minister for Families and Social Services Anne Ruston said it was "absolutely unacceptable" for any intuition to avoid its moral obligation to join the scheme.

"Joining the scheme ... demonstrates an organisation's commitment to child safe policies. Refusing to join demonstrates the opposite," she told The Canberra Times.

"Naming the Forrest Tennis Club for its failure to join the scheme was absolutely the right thing to do. The club will remain named until it does the right thing by survivors and joins the scheme.

"There is no excuse for not completing the required process to join the scheme."

Senator Ruston said the scheme had again contacted the club, and the door remained open for it to finally sign up.

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