Dr WOODRUFF – Attorney-General, justice for mothers who had their babies forcibly adopted – effectively stolen – has been a long time coming. The apology in 2012 was a start, and it was so welcome to hear your announcement that there will be a redress scheme and that you’ve made a commitment to that, and to ensuring the process is not adversarial and does not require the retraumatising of women who have shared their stories many times.
I’d like you to outline the process for developing the scheme and also speak to the payments that were promised to women who have waited such a long time, who are very elderly and have felt there has been a purposeful stonewalling. I think we acknowledge that regardless of the truth or not of that, there is a great need to have swift justice and redress for those women.
Mr BARNETT – I appreciate the question and your acknowledgement of the importance of this matter. I want to acknowledge not just yourself but many others around this table and other parts of the parliament who have advocated for those women, the shadow attorney-general included. I firstly acknowledge that. I acknowledge the tripartisan apology in 2012 that was supported across the parliament in terms of offering that apology for the historical forced adoption practices in Tasmania, and and as you’ve indicated, I was pleased to be able to announce that with the Premier some weeks ago now, because of the Tasmanian mothers impacted by those historical forced adoption practices.
The outline that I indicated then and confirm on the record now is that we will establish a redress scheme. It will require legislation which is expected in the first half of next year, but we will provide transitional arrangements. I will pass to the secretary shortly to outline the operations of those transitional arrangements to allow for those mothers impacted to be able to apply accordingly for that redress payment, noting that this is – I won’t say nation-leading because Victoria has a payment process in place, some $30,000 of redress payment there and Western Australian parliament has indicated they’re heading down that track as well. We’re aware of that. We already have processes in place to progress this announcement and that is happening as we speak. I might just pass to the secretary to outline to the committee in a little bit more detail in response to the member’s question.
Ms BOURNE – Thanks Deputy Premier, through you. As you would appreciate, the first step in giving effect to the government’s commitment to establish that scheme is to consult widely and get the settings right to inform our advice to government about what that scheme will look like; to make sure it’s trauma‑informed and a compassionate means by which to provide financial assistance to these individuals. That consultation period has been open since the government made its announcement and we continue to receive a great deal of very helpful feedback – input, shared stories, many from people who have lived experience, which, as an agency, we’re very grateful that people feel that they can share that with us.
The transition arrangements the Deputy Premier’s referred to, we’re also working through to ensure that where there are exceptional circumstances – affected mothers don’t necessarily need to wait for the commencement of that scheme. We’re working very closely with the acting State Litigator who has a specific role in some of these matters that may be on foot or there is an awareness of them soon to be on foot to make sure that we can appropriately scope those transitional arrangements. And, we’re looking very closely, again, as the Deputy Premier noted, at the Victorian scheme and also the experience of past inquiries in the Tasmanian context as well. We certainly encourage people to continue to provide feedback through the consultation process as we provide advice to government about the nature of that scheme, including the amounts of compensation and the like.
Dr WOODRUFF – Thank you. A follow-up question, Attorney-General. I know that there will be, I guess you could say two groups of women. There is a group of women who have been working for a long time with the lawyer Angela Sdrinis, on a class action, and their stories have been well documented. There may well be another group of mothers who live in Tasmania and have not been part of that and would like to seek justice, as would be their right.
Can you talk about that transitional payment? When Ms Bourne talked about trauma‑informed consultation and processes, the most important thing, particularly for that group of some 18 women, is speed and for a transitional payment to occur very swiftly without waiting for the machinery of legislation and so on. Can you talk about the timing of that and how you’re going to deal with the difference between women who’ve told their stories and had them documented, and women who maybe haven’t had the opportunity to do that?
Mr BARNETT – Thank you for the question. Understandable question. I will pass to the secretary in a moment to talk about the operational parts of that. Just in terms of the first half of next year, for clarity purposes, it may or may not require legislation to establish the scheme, but it’s to get the scheme up and running fully in the way that we wish, that will be in the first half of next year, is the expectation, and that may or may not require legislation. I want to put that on the record to clarify.
In terms of the transitional arrangements, you’ve made reference to women who’ve been subject to forced‑adoption practices and have been expressing their views through yourselves and through Angela Sdrinis and, indeed, others. We’re certainly aware of that and, of course, the State Litigator is acting in good faith in that regard, but in terms of the transitional arrangements, I’ve had a number of meetings with my secretary and department about moving as swiftly as possible. Likewise, in a trauma‑informed way, which you indicated in your question. It’s very important to us, hence we are acting swiftly but in a trauma‑informed way on those operational arrangements. I’ll pass to the secretary.
Ms BOURNE – Thanks Deputy Premier, through you. Effectively, there are two concurrent projects that the department’s prioritising. First and foremost, the establishment of the scheme, which is being led within our Justice Support Services team who have a great deal of background and knowledge in the administration for the state’s perspective on the national redress scheme, but also the transitional payments, to make sure that – and in consultation with the State Litigator – to make sure that they’re framed in a way, that is trauma-informed and prevents further trauma by virtue of the process. Also, whilst we’re coming up with the terms of the redress scheme, we don’t unnecessarily – I guess, deal with this cohort of individuals unfairly. We want it to be as consistent as possible with what we anticipate the redress scheme to look like.
We are working through that. There aren’t details that I’m in a position to share today other than to echo the Deputy Premier’s comments that this is a priority for the agency, in close consultation with the acting State Litigator who has that professional legal relationship with these individuals, particularly through their legal counsel, so that we can make sure first that there’s a transitional payment that actually reflects and addresses the trauma, and that there’s a pathway for that. We’re currently working through what is, I guess, the legal framework for a payment, counselling and a package of supports that we can provide in a transitional sense ahead of the commencement of the redress scheme.
