The National Redress Scheme was established in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The Committee’s role is to oversee implementation of the Royal Commission’s redress-related recommendations.
Making a submission
To make a submission or find out more, email the Committee Secretariat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or check the Committee’s webpage.
Full details of what the inquiry is examining can be found in the terms of reference on the Committee’s website. An easy English guide is also available.
A discussion paper aims to provide guidance to individuals and organisations interested in making submissions to the inquiry.
The committee can be requested to keep submissions confidential.
Planned public hearing
The committee is planning a public hearing at 8:00am next Wednesday, August 21, 2024. The Department of Social Services has been invited to respond to evidence heard at a recent public hearing.
Check the committee’s website next week for details.
NEW LEGISLATION to place all construction and general division branches of the CFMEU into administration has been introduced into Parliament.
Peak building and construction industry association, Master Builders Australia welcomed the legislation as an important first step to ridding the industry of toxic and lawbreaking culture.
“We urge all parties to support the legislation currently before them and stress this is only the first in a series of measures that are required to stamp out this culture once and for all,” Master Builders CEO Denita Wawn said.
“The CFMEU has breached workplace law 2,600 times in more than 20 years, accumulating $24 million in fines.
“After decades of this behaviour, it’s clear the union cannot clean up its own backyard, and we think the use of independent administrators, as a first step, is the most effective way to achieve meaningful and lasting change.
“History has shown us that deregistration of construction unions doesn’t work. What we need is long-term, lasting cultural change which means changing the people who promote and thrive in this environment," Ms Wawn said.
“Calls for yet another review or inquiry, while well intentioned, will not help government, law enforcement and regulators get on with the job, because we already know what the problems are, how they arise, and how to fix them.
“We need action now. It must be swift; it must be permanent," she said. "The building and construction industry can no longer be a political football.
“Following the passage of this legislation, the Federal Government should move to establish a dedicated building and construction industry watchdog with real teeth.
“To ensure the regulator works effectively, it must have oversight on a range of matters, including workplace, safety, competition, corporations, governance and training.
“It would also be home to a dedicated cross-jurisdictional police unit to oversee and coordinate a strong law enforcement presence in the building and construction industry," Ms Wawn said.
“We thank Minister Murray Watt for working constructively with the industry to undertake meaningful changes to address the systemic issues within the CFMEU."
The Bill amends and clarifies the intended operation of various crime-related laws, including:
expressly authorising police, when executing search warrants, to seize digital assets, such as cryptocurrency;
extending the investigative and freezing powers under existing proceeds of crime laws to apply to digital currency exchanges;
increasing the value of the Commonwealth ‘penalty unit’ from $313 to $330;
creating a position of Communications Security Coordinator in the Department of Home Affairs;
amending information-sharing provisions to ensure state-based oversight bodies for integrity agencies can access material that has been lawfully intercepted by the agencies they oversee.
The committee recommended that the Bill be passed by the Parliament, subject to one technical amendment to ensure that the Bill’s changes in relation to the Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia are fully effective.
The committee also made two recommendations for future reforms, including:
that the government consider whether state-based oversight bodies should be given access to stored communications and telecommunications data held by the integrity agencies within their jurisdictions; and
amendments to ensure that Ministerial declarations of new entities authorised to access stored communications or telecommunications data are subject to review.
Peter Khalil MP, Chair of the PJCIS, said, "The committee welcomes the measures in this Bill, which will help ensure that key law enforcement and security legislation remains effective, fit-for-purpose and subject to appropriate oversight.
“The committee looks forward to continuing to be engaged in the review of legislation to reform Australia’s electronic surveillance powers.”
The full report and further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee’s website.
Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthi movement, is a violent extremist organisation based in Yemen, which has conducted numerous violent attacks against Yemeni government forces and civilians. In addition, Ansar Allah has targeted foreign states and recently attacked numerous foreign-owned vessels passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
The report examines the listing of Ansar Allah as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code for the first time.
The committee concluded that it was satisfied that the appropriate process had been followed and that Ansar Allah met the definition of a terrorist organisation. Specifically, the organisation is directly engaged in preparing, planning assisting in or fostering the doing of a terrorist acts.
Chair of the Committee, Peter Khalil MP said, "The committee agrees that in the interest of protecting national and global security, it is appropriate to list Ansar Allah as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code."
Further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee’s website.
THE Independent Education Union (IEU) has welcomed the ‘historic announcement’ that the Federal Labor Government will spend $3.6 billion to fund pay increases that will mean teachers in long day care centres throughout Australia get a 15 percent pay rise above the current rate in the Modern Award.
This will be dealt out as 10 percent in December 2024 and another 5 percent a year later. IEU also welcomed the proposed 4.4 percent cap on fee increases for parents over the next 12 months.
The long day care sector provides quality early childhood education and care services to hundreds of thousands of children and parents all year round. Under the Modern Award, an experienced teacher in a long day care centre is currently paid $93,000 a year. The new top rate after the 15 percent increase will be over $107,000. For a highly feminised sector, this is a vital step towards closing the gender pay gap.
“Today we’re seeing the historic outcome of unions, the Federal Government and a group of 64 employers working together to lift pay and conditions across the long day care sector,” Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT branch secretary Carol Matthews said.
“The education and care of our youngest children is important and indispensable work. These long overdue increases better reflect the valuable work of early childhood teachers in laying the vital foundations for our children’s development and lifelong learning.”
The pay rises, to be funded by the Federal Government, will help ease critical teacher shortages in long day care centres across the country. Early childhood teachers have been leaving in droves to take up roles in schools and other sectors where the salaries and conditions are substantially better.
“This is a big shift but work still needs to be done,” Ms Matthews said. “The gap in pay and conditions between teachers in the early childhood sector and those in schools is still too big.
“Teachers are teachers no matter the age of their students, and we will keep fighting until there is equity between teachers in the early childhood education and care sector and those in schools.”
The IEU is currently discussing with the Federal Government how the funding will be distributed and the mechanisms to ensure the full increase in funding is passed on to teachers and educators as pay rises. It is expected this will occur through the proposed new enterprise agreement which will include not only the pay rises but other improved conditions aiming to boost workforce attraction and retention, professionalism and service quality.
The IEU joined with the United Workers Union (UWU) and the Australian Education Union (AEU) to access the supported bargaining stream in new industrial relations laws passed as part of the Secure Jobs Better Pay Act in 2022.
The provision enables unions to bargain for enterprise agreements with groups of employers in a sector rather than in individual enterprises. The laws aim to address the long-term failure to properly value work in feminised sectors such as early childhood education and care.
“Today’s outcome better values the work that teachers in long day care centres do every day,” Ms Matthews said. “Long day care staff, children, parents and the community are all better off because of today’s decision.”
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