I can assure the Deputy that the staff within my Department who are engaging directly with survivors and their advocates in relation to the delivery of supports have received appropriate training in trauma-informed practice, are experienced in engaging sensitively and appropriately in that regard and will continue to receive appropriate training as required.
To be clear, survivors are not, at any time, required to recount their experiences of abuse as children in residential institutions and are not asked to do so by my Department.
The supports which are being delivered in accordance with the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025 are available to survivors who either received redress from the Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB) or, in a small minority of cases, received a similar court award or settlement.
Therefore, for the vast majority of applications, the initial engagement with applicants is to confirm, through the use of each applicant’s name, address and date of birth, that they received redress from the RIRB. This is done by comparing the information provided by each applicant with information provided to the Department by the RIRB, in accordance with section 18 of the Act.
For the small number of applicants who did not receive redress from the RIRB, some further engagement may be required to confirm that they received a similar court award or settlement.
