National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Amendment (Funders of Last Resort and Other Measures) 2021

✦ Plain-English Summary

# National Redress Scheme Amendment – Plain English Summary

## What it does

This bill expands Australia's National Redress Scheme to cover institutions that *partially* participate or don't participate at all. Previously, only fully participating institutions could be held financially responsible. The changes introduce "funders of last resort" — a safety net so abuse survivors can still get compensation even when the original institution won't or can't pay.

## Why it matters

Many abuse survivors couldn't access compensation because their institution refused to join the scheme or only partially participated. This closes that gap, ensuring survivors aren't left empty-handed just because their abuser's institution dodged responsibility.

## Key details

- **Partly-participating institutions** are now explicitly included in the scheme's scope, expanding who can be held accountable
- **Funder of last resort** provisions create a backup funding mechanism when the responsible institution can't or won't pay compensation
- The law came into effect the day after it received Royal Assent, so it's already active

Official Description

Provides a further response to the final report of the second year review of the National Redress Scheme by amending the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Act 2018 to: extend the funder of last resort arrangements to encompass non-defunct institutions that are unable to participate in the scheme, and defunct institutions with which participating jurisdictions do not share responsibility for abuse and there is no parent institution to take responsibility; and provide the scheme operator with specific authority to disclose certain protected information about non-participating institutions.

Full bill PDF →APH page →

Audit History

Introduced

27 Oct 2021

Last updated on APH

10 Apr 2026

Outcome date

2 Dec 2021

Last checked by Crossbench

2 days ago

Full text indexed

2 days ago

🗳️

No formal division recorded

This bill passed by voice vote — parliament agreed without calling a formal count. A division is only recorded when a member explicitly requests one.

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