Better late than never Recent sex abuse allegations against Cricket Australia show how late entrants to the National Redress Scheme limit scheme’s ability to help survivors

Jamie Mitchell alleges that he was sexually abused by a person in a position of authority during the Australian under-19 cricket team’s tour of Sri Lanka and India in 1985, causing Mr Mitchell significant trauma and distress over the ensuing years. The ABC report documents that Mr Mitchell has been further frustrated and saddened by efforts to disclose this abuse and seek answers from Cricket Australia, describing its attitude as “cold” and saying that he was “fobbed off”. Cricket Australia has rejected claims that it has mismanaged Mr Mitchell’s sex abuse allegations. What is clear is Cricket Australia’s “failure to sign up to the National Redress Scheme” following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse”. As of August 2021, Cricket Australia was removed from a list of organisations “intending” to join the scheme. Cricket Australia has now said that it is finally in the process of joining the scheme. However, this is cold comfort for survivors of sex abuse that occurred under the watch of state and territory-based cricket organisations like Cricket ACT, where Ian King worked. It was deemed “incapable” of meeting the scheme’s financial obligations “despite posting a $670,000 profit in 2020-2021 on the back of $2.2 million in funding from Cricket Australia”.

The community has a right to question whether this is good enough in 2022. It’s a depressing reminder of the need for institutions to have appropriate processes and procedures in place to deal sensitively and constructively with disclosures and claims for redress.