A major report by the Australian National Audit Office has highlighted that the administration of the National Redress Scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse is only ‘partly effective’, with concerns about consistency, transparency and communication about the legislated end of the scheme.
‘Victims and survivors of child abuse deserve consistent access to meaningful redress and justice-making options,’ said Jackie Mead, CEO of Knowmore Legal Service. ‘Partly effective is not good enough when it comes to redress for victims and survivors.’
The National Redress Scheme was established in 2018, in response to recommendations of the landmark Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The National Redress Scheme was intended to provide recognition, justice and healing for victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
‘The National Redress Scheme has provided life-changing support for many victims and survivors,’ said Ms Mead. ‘Despite this, there remain significant problems with the National Redress Scheme that are preventing it from consistently delivering redress in a way that is survivor-focused, trauma-informed and culturally safe’.
‘There have been 5 major reviews of the National Redress Scheme in the past 8 years, with many sound recommendations outstanding,‘ said Ms Mead. ‘Although the Department of Social Services self-reports that they have implemented many of the relevant recommendations, there has been a lack of transparency as to how recommendations have been implemented or what the impact has been for victims and survivors.’
The audit office report builds on the many previous recommendations to improve the National Redress Scheme, identifying 5 areas in which there is significant potential for the National Redress Scheme to be improved:
- communication about the legislated end of the National Redress Scheme on 1 July 2028
- quality assurance of redress application decisions
- oversight of service delivery from Services Australia
- establishing efficiency indicators
- monitoring of the implementation of recommendations from previous reviews of the National Redress Scheme.
‘We are particularly concerned by the audit office’s findings that the high risk of the National Redress Scheme not finalising applications by the legislated end of the National Redress Scheme was not reported to the Secretary of the Department of Social Services, and that a framework for consistent decision-making was not implemented as intended.’
Legal and policy changes were out-of-scope for the audit, but likely to be a focus of a new inquiry into the National Redress Scheme that began in October 2025.
New inquiry into the National Redress Scheme
The new inquiry is being undertaken by the committee of the Australian Parliament that oversees the National Redress Scheme, the Joint Standing Committee on Implementation of the National Redress Scheme.
The previous Joint Standing Committee’s inquiry formed a significant part of the context for the audit, recognising that:
The Scheme’s legislated objectives include providing justice to abuse survivors. Inconsistent or unfair outcomes do not meet this objective. Unless doubts about consistency and fairness can be transparently resolved, confidence in the Scheme (and the Royal Commission’s vision) is likely to be eroded. This issue should be a high priority for the Scheme.
Anyone can have their say on the future of the National Redress Scheme by making a submission to the Joint Standing Committee’s new inquiry by Friday, 6 February 2026.
Knowmore is a community legal centre that provides free, independent legal advice and multidisciplinary support for survivors of child sexual abuse.
For more information or to arrange media interviews with a local representative, contact media officer Barbara Charan on 0418 232 906 or email via media@knowmore.org.au