Tennis NSW confirmed today that it will
be one of the first state sporting organisation to join the National Redress
Scheme, which commenced on 1 July 2018 and will run for 10 years.
The National Redress Scheme
(“Scheme”) was created in response to recommendations made by the Royal
Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It helps those
who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse gain access to
counselling, a response and payment. The Commission estimated approximately 60,000
people experienced institutional child sexual abuse in Australia.
Tennis NSW Chief Executive Officer,
Lawrence Robertson said “As one of the sporting organisations to be called out
specifically in the Royal Commission report in 2017, this is an important step
in Tennis NSW addressing the mistakes made in the past by this organisation and
by the wider sporting community.
Tennis NSW has a zero tolerance
approach to child abuse and we hope that with our organisation joining the
Scheme, individuals that may have suffered in the past will be able to access
the support they need to heal.
Alongside our confirmation of joining the National Redress Scheme, today we are also publishing our Tennis NSW Child Safeguarding Framework.
This framework sets out what we
have done as an organisation and what more we intend to do over the coming year
to further highlight the importance for all within the tennis community to put
safeguarding children at the forefront of their thinking.
Our framework asks our clubs,
coaches and councils to consider how they can ACE child safeguarding in their
own environment. ACE stands for AWARENESS, CULTURE and EDUCATION if we can all
collectively raise our standards in each of these three areas, we will be
making great progress in this critical area for our sport”.
As a lone institution, Tennis NSW
is taking full responsibility for any claims made against the organisation in
connection with any programs or tournaments that it is responsible for. We will
embark on an education and awareness program to help our clubs understand what
our joining the Scheme means for them. For more information on how to make an
application for redress contact the National Redress Scheme on 1800 737 377.
If you need to access further
support, you can head to the National Redress Scheme’s free support resources
at https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/support.
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