Around 700 people who have applied to the redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse are still waiting for the institutions they have named to sign up for the program, meaning their claims can't be processed.
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The government has committed to pressure organisations to join the scheme, and is considering whether taking away organisations' charitable status could be used to threaten those who are avoiding the scheme.
"We will absolutely look at anything that is reasonable to try and force organisations who we believe should be part of this scheme to join up," Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said on Tuesday.
Responding to a parliamentary committee report into the implementation of the national redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sex abuse, Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said there was a clear need to improve the way the scheme was interacting with survivors.
Of the 29 recommendations from the committee, the government agreed with 11, supported three in principle and noted 15, many of which would need the approval of all the state governments also part of the redress scheme.
"The Morrison government has, however, made a commitment to consult with jurisdictions and will further consider these recommendations through the legislated second anniversary review of the scheme," Senator Ruston said.
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Senator Ruston told ABC Radio on Tuesday the government wanted all organisations that had a history of working with children to sign up the scheme.
According to the latest figures, 1161 offers have been made under the redress scheme, with 6139 applications received. More than $93.5 million has been paid to survivors.
While the number of payments made this financial year is more than four times as many as last year, thousands of survivors are still having their claims assessed. The government agreed to a recommendation to ensure people are regularly updated on the status of their application and to publish the average amount of time for a claim to be processed.
Last year The Canberra Times revealed some survivors had been waiting more than a year for their application for redress to be processed.
Senator Ruston said the government was aware applications for redress weren't being processed fast enough.
"Many of them are much more complex than we ever imagined," she said.
A recommendation by the committee to adjust the framework of the scheme so that it measures the impact of the abuse, instead of the type of abuse, was noted by the government.
"It is a ... very difficult issue," Senator Ruston said, promising that all the recommendations would be looked at by the federal and state and territory governments.
"If there is a way that we are able to reach agreement so that we can improve this scheme, we absolutely will."
Sally Whyte
I report on a range of issues in federal politics and the public service, with a real passion for how decisions made in Canberra affect the lives of Australians.
I report on a range of issues in federal politics and the public service, with a real passion for how decisions made in Canberra affect the lives of Australians.
