Submission on recordkeeping issues to the Joint Select Committee on Oversight of the Implementation of Redress Related Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

In August 2018, the Setting the Record Straight Initiative developed on submission to the Joint Select Committee on Oversight of the Implementation of Redress Related Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on recordkeeping issues.

See Submission to the Joint Select Committee on Oversight of the Implementation of Redress Related Recommendations

In our submission we reiterated the recordkeeping and archiving issues raised in our earlier submission on the Redress Bill, in particular

1. To ensure that backlogs in documenting and providing access to records does not adversely affect survivors’ ability to apply for Redress and/or receive the appropriate compensation.In particular that mechanisms be put in place to ensure the fullest access to records be given to survivors in light of the recordkeeping principles outlined in the Royal Commissions Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse’s final report.
2. The need to acknowledge survivor’s co-creation rights in the design of the Scheme’s processes. Applicants are being asked once again to hand over the intimate, sensitive and personal details of their abuse and its impacts. While assurances of confidentiality have been given, there is no explanation of the long-term fate of these records.
3. Asking the Committee to investigate how the survivor focused principle has been implemented in the design of the Redress Scheme’s processes and systems, to identify the barriers to the kind of community collaboration and co-design that many were expecting in its formation.