After decades waiting for justice and recognition, survivors of Australia's legacy of institutional child sexual abuse are losing patience with the slow development of a major national compensation scheme.
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Nearly five months after Social Services Minister Christian Porter announced an opt-in redress system to run until 2028, state governments say no further detail has been provided and the Catholic Church's representative on a key advisory body has warned that political resistance to costly payouts will weaken any plan.
The landmark royal commission established by the Gillard government in 2012 held its final public hearings in Sydney on Friday, after four years and 57 case studies, 8000 private sessions and revelations of abuse in 4000 institutions.
A final report is due with government by the end of 2017, but details of the federally led redress scheme remain scant.
States and territories, churches, charities and other institutions will be required to opt-in to help fund victims' counselling and cash compensation of up to $150,000, but South Australia and Tasmania say they won't sign up.
The 15-person committee, chaired by former West Australian minister Cheryl Edwardes, is advising the federal government ahead of a meeting with state and territory attorneys-general in mid-May.
Despite the scheme being due to begin in 2018, no deadline for institutions or governments to commit has been settled and committee members have been required to sign non-disclosure agreements.
One person with knowledge of the plans said progress had "stalled", while Mr Porter wouldn't be interviewed this week.
NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said his state supported the plan for a single redress scheme, however, governments in Queensland, Victoria and the ACT want more information.
"Although the Commonwealth has proposed such a scheme in principle, we await and are anxious to receive the proposed details," Mr Speakman said.
Another council member, chief executive of the Catholic Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Commission Francis Sullivan, called on state governments to avoid any "manufactured political inertia to keep away from making hard decisions".
"I think there is a lot of bureaucratic resistance in various governments because, as always, this is looked on very narrowly as an expenditure issue," he said.
"The Catholic Church will pay its way, no taxpayers' dollars will go into paying for Catholic Church redress," he said. "The church will pay every dollar."
Care Leavers Australia Network boss Leonie Sheedy said a sticking point for former residents of care homes and orphanages was the ability of next-of-kin to receive compensation if abuse survivors died before claims were settled.
"We couldn't opt out of years of abuse, it is terrible charities and churches are able to opt out of being part of redress," Ms Sheedy said.
In a statement, Mr Porter said work was continuing, stressing the Commonwealth could not compel states to sign up and the system would require responsible entities, including churches and charities, to pay for their own compensation.
He said "significant complexities" were involved in trying to achieve consistent redress for survivors.
"We are also continuing discussions with states, territories and non-government institutions. Announcements about next steps will be made in due course, well ahead of the expected commencement of the scheme in 2018."
Greens community services spokeswoman Rachel Siewert called for more transparency.
"The government was rightly praised for moving fairly quickly to announce their intention to establish a redress scheme, it would be a shame to undermine this with a lack of transparency and slow progress in finalising the scheme," she said.
For victims' advocate Wayne Chamley, one of the earliest voices for a royal commission as far back as the 1990s, the end of public hearings represents a significant milestone.
"A great amount of dirty linen is out there finally," Dr Chamley, spokesman for Broken Rites, said.
"Just the deviousness and incompetence of the leadership of some of these institutions has been revealed. We went to them years ago and they didn't want to know us but now we have this."
