Northern Territory Limitation Amendment (Child Abuse) Act 2017

Wednesday 7 June 2017 @ 10.37 a.m. | Crime | Legal Research

The Northern Territory Government has recently given assent to the Limitation Amendment (Child Abuse) Act 2017 (No. 10) (The Amendment Act). Like other state governments before it, including the ACT and Queensland, the Act will amend the Limitation Act to remove any limitation period for action for damages resulting from child abuse. The Bill implements recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in its 2015 Report on Redress and Civil Litigation.

Background to the Act

Previously, the Limitation Act provided that an action in tort must be commenced within three years from which date the cause of action first occurred. For minors, the limitation period commenced when the minor turned eighteen years of age. The Royal Commission report from September 2015 recommended that this is changed in the case of child abuse. Specifically, it recommended that State and Territory government remove limitation periods that apply to a claim for damages resulting from child sexual abuse.

Ms Natasha Fyles, Attorney General of the Northern Territory, explained that the reforms have been adopted by other State and Territory government and are all at various stages of enactment:

“To date New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria have removed limitation periods for child abuse cases. The Australian Capital Territory has more specifically enacted legislation to remove limitation periods in relation to child sexual abuse that occurred in an institutional context. Western Australia and Tasmania have proposed similar bills to remove the limitation periods. New South Wales and Victoria have implemented broader amendments applying to sexual and serious physical abuse, and in limited circumstances, psychological abuse whether or not that abuse occurred in an institution.”

Provisions of the Act

The provisions introduced by the amendment Act resemble the New South Wales and Victorian model. Essentially, it will remove the limitation period for action for personal injury arising from child abuse if that abused person was a child at the time of the alleged abuse. The child abuse element will cover sexual abuse, serious physical abuse and psychological abuse arising out of the sexual or serious physical abuse. The Act does not define sexual abuse of serious physical abuse and instead leaves it to the discretion of the court. Ms Fyles noted that the bar for serious physical abuse is set higher so that it does not cover minor instances of physical abuse.

The purpose of the amendment is to recognise the vulnerability of child victims of abuse and to provide an adequate time frame for victims to comprehend and respond to the harm they’ve endured. The Act also provides a provision providing that:

“previous judgments, including agreements entered into in relation to a settlement of a matter, determined on the basis that the cause of action was statute barred, do not prevent a cause of action being brought before the court.”

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Sources:

Limitation Amendment (Child Abuse) Act 2017, Bill, Explanatory Notes and Second Reading Speech as published on LawOne

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