by no-zombie 31 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
It appears the the Commonwealth Government is bringing in a national compensation scheme for victims of institutional child sexual abuse with individuals able to claim up to $150,000 each. It's clear that the Australian Government will not be able to fund this program without serious money from the offending churches. So it's bad news for the Organization today.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-04/government-announces-redress-for-abuse-victims/7996092
I am smiling all over my face! Thank you for posting!
"The days of the Catholic Church investigating itself are over ,and this should be the same for all institutions."
A response from the Roman Catholic Church , agreeing with the Governments decision .
I wonder what the Jehovahs Witness response will be.( we know they hate parting with money )
Very nice article. They will leave the doors open on this scheme they said for 10 years. I like this a lot.
This is good but the amount seems low, I hope that the cost of seeking professional help will be in addition this.
Hmm. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. As long is the org gets hit in the wallet (the only thing of slightly higher importance to the gb than their inflated sense of self) the stronger the incentive to revamp their policies.
Listener, that amount is only low when set against US payouts. There is NO WAY someone like Candace Conti would have got 20m in the UK. It's the US awards which are hugely out of touch with the rest of the world.
I can't see anyway that WT will be bankrupted by these financial penalties, but at the end of the day it is the judgements against them which are important.
While the Australia branch has been established for a very long time, we must remember that its quite cash poor, when you consider that surplus funds have been shipped to the US some time ago. The global corporation might be able to take some hits, but a 5 to 10 million dollar bill from the Commonwealth Government will see our branch fold. As we'll be cut free from the mother-ship to fend for ourselves, as per India.
I hope the media gets off American politics here (Australia)when some cases start getting paid out.
My reading of the article is that Watchtower Australia has the option of joining the scheme, or risk being sued for greater amounts in individual cases. The Catholic Church is clearly jumping at the chance to join the scheme.
How is Watchtower Australia going to afford to pay out A$150,000 per case (ie A$150 million if there are 1000 cases)? I recall seeing Watchtower Australia's accounts a few years ago, and it was only A$18 million. That figure probably didn't include the Kingdom Halls, but still...
Further, this scheme is likely to bring more claims to the surface. I wonder what Watchtower will do.
