Lydia Oosterhoff: Cooper Legal Senior Associate on the lack of redress with the Government's abuse-in-care apology

There's disappointment the Government's abuse-in-care apology doesn't come with a financial redress scheme.   A Royal Commission report estimates 200,000 people have experienced harm in state and faith-based care between 1950 and 2019.   The report has called for urgent financial redress, but the Government says it will not decide on a system until early next year.  Cooper Legal Senior Associate Lydia Oosterhoff, who represents the survivors, told Mike Hosking that the Government's apology will mean nothing unless it signals a commitment to change.  She called the announcements yesterday “smoke and mirrors” and said it is just a “drop in the bucket” of the work that needs to be done.  “The changes, I think, are deflecting from what the survivors have been calling for months now, which is redress and change.”  Oosterhoof said the lack of redress today “quite upset” her clients and she believes the Government has had plenty of time to work on it.  “They have had the interim redress reports since December 2021, so they have had nearly three years to prepare for this.”  On the announcement by Children’s Minister Karen Chhour, she also said it was a “distraction” from the real issues.  “There was not one change to the law that was about keeping children safe in the home.”  Oosternhoof believed she would continue this fight for decades if the pace of progress persists.  “This is not incremental change, this is not going to keep children safe.”  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.