A Bega Valley-initiated petition demanding criminals be prevented from hiding assets in superannuation to avoid paying victim’s compensation has been handed to Revenue and Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer.
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Ms O'Dwyer said during the petition handover at Parliament House on Monday, the federal government initiated a review of the legislation late last year, and changes can be expected by the end of 2018.
A parent of one of the victims of paedophile Maurice Van Ryn, and creator of the petition, described the day as “a great example of people power making change”.
“Criminals seem to be aware this is a loophole they can exploit,” they said.
While the change will come too late for Van Ryn’s victims, the parent said some “fantastic positive outcomes have been achieved” from what has been “an absolutely dreadful set of circumstances”.
“We are so pleased this change, while it won’t assist us, will assist others that follow,” they said.
The parent said Ms O’Dwyer was unaware of the loophole until the petition, which quickly gathered thousands of signatures, was flagged by her office.
“She thought there was a horrible mistake, and people like paedophiles couldn’t hide money in their superannuation,” the parent said.
“I heard she [Ms O’Dwyer] said on the spot she would change the laws.”
Ms O’Dwyer was joined on the day by child protection advocate Hetty Johnston and victims advocate Howard Brown, who has helped support some of Van Ryn’s victims.
“During our negotiations in relation to a settlement, in relation to compensation, for those victims the perpetrator made it perfectly clear that he had squirreled away in to a superannuation fund knowing full well that we would not be able to access it and in fact goaded us in such a way that it was just an appalling abuse of process,” Mr Brown said.
“We’re not doing this for any personal gain, we’re trying to ensure that other victims, and there are hundreds and thousands of other victims who are affected by this legislation as it currently stands, we want to ensure that they don’t have the secondary abuse that our current victims have.”
Ms Johnston praised the hard work of the parent, who she said has “fought tooth and nail” in bringing the issue to the attention of law makers, and the proposed changes will give “the power back to the victims”.
