Outrage over plan to cap abuse claims

In a new law proposed by the NSW Parliament, the Victims Rights and Support Bill, victim's rights to claim for sexual assault and other violent crimes will be capped at a limit of 10 years according to an article in smh.com.au.

The Victims Rights and Support Bill, which will likely be passed by NSW Parliament this week, will change the Victim's Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) meaning an application for compensation must be made within 10 years of the sexual abuse. If the victim was a child, he or she has 10 years from the time they turn 18 to lodge a claim.

Victims groups are so outraged by the changes that they have complained to the United Nations. They say many victims of child sexual abuse take decades to report a crime. The laws will also be enacted retrospectively, affecting people who lodged a claim in 2010.

Since the introduction of the bill this month, funds have been frozen and the Victims Services unit has come to a standstill. Visitors to its website are told that until the legislation is passed, it is ''unable to accept or process any new applications for financial assistance or accept any new applications for compensation''.

A victim of sexual abuse as a child claims that, "''The small amount of money that is offered to victims is not about the monetary value, it's about acknowledgement. It enables the victim to regain a sense of power that was stolen from them as a child."

Click here to read the Bill.

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