After a long campaign by survivors, including Grace Tame, the federal government has pledged to stop convicted child sexual abusers from hiding their assets in superannuation.
Under the current system, victims of crime who launch civil action for compensation against their perpetrators cannot access any funds held in the offender's superannuation accounts.
The government has today released a discussion paper for consultation that outlines two proposals that would provide for the release of an offender's superannuation for the purposes of satisfying unpaid compensation orders to their victims.
The announcement follows a long campaign for change by former Australian of the Year Grace Tame, along with other survivors, as reported by 7.30 last year.
Last year, Ms Tame told 7.30 the legal loophole was another example of a system stacked against victim-survivors of sexual abuse.
"It's really important for people to understand the fundamental power imbalance between survivors and paedophiles," she said at the time.
"Where we seem to keep going wrong is in simplifying it to one between individuals – it isn't.
"And [this is] a classic example of systems abuse that remains unchanged.
"Instead of thinking of it in terms of individual perpetrators and individual victims, it is [actually] individual victims versus an entire machine."
Consultation on legislation
Change was first flagged by former financial services minister Kelly O'Dwyer in 2018, but the plan stalled and Labor has been considering the changes since its election last year.
Under the Albanese government's proposed changes, certain super contributions made by an offender in the leadup to criminal proceedings would be made available to the victim for the purposes of paying compensation.
Courts would also be entitled to access Australian Taxation Office data about offenders' superannuation accounts, giving transparency to victims of their assets.
The federal government will now consult on the proposals with a view to introducing legislation into the parliament.
The discussion paper released today states that its purpose is to seek views on the proposed mechanisms, which would be available exclusively to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in criminal or civil compensation proceedings.
"Responses to this discussion paper will help inform the government's consideration of options to prevent child sexual abuse offenders from shielding their assets in the superannuation system," the discussion paper states.
"The government is particularly concerned that, where they are personally liable for a compensation order, offenders have an incentive under the existing framework to shield assets in the superannuation system and deny victims and survivors access to redress in doing so.
"In recent years, there have been a number of high-profile reports of convicted child sexual abuse offenders deliberately hiding millions of dollars' worth of assets in superannuation accounts to defeat compensation claims."
Adelaide-based lawyer Andrew Carpenter, who has been pushing for the reform to be introduced since 2020, said the Super for Survivors campaign had been advocating for survivors of sexual abuse to pursue their offenders through the civil courts to seek redress.
"The conviction rate for historic sex offences is simply abysmal," he said.
"This is due to prosecutors not being able to convince a court of an offence beyond reasonable doubt due to the passage of time.
"This legislation needs to [also] assist the 98 per cent of survivors who do not get a conviction against their offenders."
Consultation will close on February 16.
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