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National law firm Slater and Gordon is calling on the WA Government to extend legislation enabling historic child sexual abuse claims to be brought to include those who have suffered physical abuse.

The change would provide justice to survivors and their families and bring WA in line with all other states and territories of Australia who have removed limitation periods preventing survivors from bringing serious physical abuse claims.

First Nations woman Patricia Jones (nee Taylor) continues to suffer nightmares from the traumatic physical abuse she suffered as a child at Holy Child “Orphanage” in Broome where First Nations children, who were taken from their families, were placed in the 1950s and 1960s. A policeman and two women from the Department of Child Welfare placed Trish at the institution, run by the Sisters of St John of God when she was just five years old.

At nine years old, in grade 4 or 5, Trish can recall a harrowing memory of having her fingers slammed in her desk and being pulled outside by her hair when she could not tell the time. She recalls Sister Winifred (of the Sisters of St John of God) punching and kicking her, causing her to fall to the ground. Someone went to get help and the assault continued until Father Nicholas pulled Sister Winifred away from Trish.

At 73, Trish who is based in Darwin, must take an antipsychotic drug to help her sleep. The woman from the Broome Yawuru clan, said the inclusion of physical abuse in the legislation was long overdue and would bring about an enormous amount of healing after suffering horrible abuse following being removed from her own family as a child.

“It would bring a great sense of relief. Not just for me and for my family but for those who were part of the Stolen Generation and other generations that came after too. There has got to be some recognition for the physical abuse we suffered so we can move on with life today. We need to explore how to best address these issues by removing time limitations for historic claims so our people can move on and give attention to other issues needed in the Aboriginal communities in WA,” she said.

Slater and Gordon WA Abuse Legal Counsel Abigail Davies, who is appearing before the Committee at the WA Parliamentary Inquiry into Options Available for Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday this week, said the change would give hope to multiple generations of physical abuse survivors who want to be heard.

“When an abuse survivor has civil litigation available to them as an avenue for justice and compensation, it can also provide them with an acknowledgement of the trauma suffered and a sense of closure. We are hopeful the WA Government will consider recognising physical abuse in legislation that takes away limitation barriers to provide those who’ve been waiting to have their voices heard for many years with the sense of closure and justice they deserve,” Ms Davies said.

“While seeking an extension of time to a limitation period had in theory been an option, it’s inadequate and a barrier to justice because childhood abuse victims take a substantial period of time to disclose the abuse they’ve suffered. For example, historic child sexual abuse survivors who were able to disclose their experience to the Royal Commission took an average of 22 years to do so.”

Ms Davies said it was the right time for the WA Government to address the lack of legal avenues for physical abuse survivors in WA. She said while there had been a reasonable basis for legislative reform not to be extended to physical abuse in 2018 because it was not part of the Royal Commission’s recommendations, further experience around Australia meant the WA Government could reasonably extend legislative reform.

“We want to commend the WA Government for exploring improvements to the civil litigation process for survivors of historic child sexual abuse,” Ms Davies said.

In all jurisdictions around Australia, other than WA, in addition to the removal of a limitation period for personal injury resulting from child sexual abuse, there is no limitation period for personal injury resulting from the serious physical abuse of a child (in NSW, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania), the physical abuse of a child (in Victoria and ACT), connected abuse (in NSW), and psychological abuse arising from the sexual or physical abuse (in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Victoria).