Redress Scheme visits Albury-Wodonga, NSW/Victoria:

A free half-day community organisation workshop about the National Redress Scheme will be held in Albury, NSW on Thursday 27 March 2025. The workshop will be held at the Atura Hotel, Albury from 9:30am - 1:30pm AEDT.

The workshop will provide community organisation attendees with information about the National Redress Scheme and other similar schemes that are currently active for people in NSW and Victoria. The workshop will have a focus on people who come from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

The session will discuss the different purposes and functions of the schemes, as well as how to engage with these services, and access free confidential and culturally safe support.

Government representatives will be participating to share information and answer questions, and there will be presentations from various Redress Support Services and Knowmore(Opens in a new tab/window) Legal Service.

Please note, attendance at these workshops is limited to staff in community groups, organisations, and services. There is limited capacity for each event, please register your organisation’s attendance below.

Register your organisation’s attendance through the online registration form(Opens in a new tab/window).

These are part of a series of Redress Support Service-led workshops to raise awareness of the Scheme. To register your interest in future workshops, email DSSRedressEngagement@dss.gov.au.

Victorian Redress Scheme and the National Redress Scheme:

The Victorian Redress Scheme for Historical Institutional Abuse (Victorian Redress) began accepting applications on 10 December 2024 and will operate for 18 months.

  • The Victorian Redress Scheme is open to people who:
    • lived as a child (before the age of 18) in a Victorian institution for at least 6 months (in total) before 1 January 1990
    • experienced physical, psychological, or emotional abuse or neglect in the Victorian institution.
  • Under the Victorian Redress Scheme, people found eligible will be offered:
    • a payment up to $20,000
    • a personal apology – in person or in writing, 
    • up to 20 funded counselling sessions.

If you are an applicant to the National Redress Scheme and receive a payment from the Victorian Redress Scheme, you should let the National Redress Scheme know.

A payment from the Victorian Redress Scheme can be considered a ‘relevant prior payment’ by the National Redress Scheme and may reduce your National Redress Scheme payment in some circumstances. You will still be able to apply to the National Redress Scheme if you have received Victorian Redress.

If you would like to discuss how a Victorian Redress Scheme payment can impact a National Redress Scheme payment you can contact the National Redress Scheme on 1800 737 377. 

If you would like further information about the Victorian Redress Scheme, you can:

  • visit their website Redress for Historical Institutional Abuse - DFFH Services(Opens in a new tab/window)
  • contact the Victorian Redress Scheme in between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday on 1800 716 870 (free call)
  • contact the Victorian Redress Scheme via email at victorianredress@dffh.vic.gov.au
  • contact these free and confidential support services to help you apply to the Victorian Redress Scheme:
    • Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) – 1800 008 774
    • Child Migrants Trust - 1800 04 05 09
    • Connecting Home – 8679 0777
    • Drummond Street Services – 9663 6733
    • IGFF (In Good Faith Foundation) – 1300 124 433
    • Open Place (Relationships Australia Victoria) – 1800 779 379
    • Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA) – 9287 8800

What happens when the Federal Election is announced

Once the government announces the federal election the National Redress Scheme will go into a caretaker period. This means routine and administrative operations of departments and agencies will continue as usual, however major policy decisions that may commit the incoming government will be put on hold.

What does this mean for the National Redress Scheme: During the caretaker period, National Redress Scheme operations will continue as normal, including calls to and from the National Redress Scheme, submission and processing of applications, contact with institutions and working with Redress Support Services. However, you may see less updates to the National Redress Scheme website, a pause on the National Redress Scheme’s monthly newsletter and other external facing communications.

If you would like more information, it can be found by looking at the Guidance on Caretaker Conventions(Opens in a new tab/window) provided by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Scheme data

As at 31 January 2025, there have been 55,740 applications to the Scheme.

  • 21,071 applicants have had their outcomes advised. Of these 17,810 payments have been made totalling approximately $1.59 billion dollars
  • 2,516 have been withdrawn by the applicant
  • 32,153 applications are yet to receive an outcome. Of which:
    • 20,673 applications are actionable by the Scheme.
      • 4,152 applications are being validated with the initial contact being made
      • 12,207 applications are in the information gathering stage
      • 3,807 applications are with an IDM for a determination
      • 507 applications are being prepared for delivery of the outcome
    • 4,580 applications are unable to be actioned by the Scheme. Of these:
      • 3,012 are awaiting the applicant to provide additional information
      • 1,568 are undergoing a special assessment for serious criminal conviction/applying from gaol
    • 6,900 applications are on hold.

Participating institutions update

The Minister's Declaration is an official list of all participating institutions. It is updated when a new institution joins the Scheme or the status of a participating institution changes.

As at 13 March 2025:

  • 3 Declarations have been signed, bringing new participating and partly-participating institutions into the Scheme.
  • 18 lone institutions and 4 participating groups have been declared as participating non-government institutions.
  • 3 institutions have been declared as partly-participating non-government institutions.

The Declarations are available on the Federal Register of Legislation(Opens in a new tab/window).

The Australian Government acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, water, culture and community. We pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.

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