What is the cost of not being 'Child Safe'?

What is the cost of not being 'Child Safe'. In recent years courts had been more willing to award significant damages to survivors. 

See these extracts from the article 'Tasmanian sexual abuse survivor awarded record $5.3m in damages' by David Estcourt. David is a crime and justice reporter at The Age.

A Tasmanian man who was repeatedly sexually abused as a child over a period of five years and then harassed and stalked by his abuser for years afterwards has been awarded a record $5.3 million in damages.

The damages awarded to the man set a record for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. The Tasmanian Supreme Court awarded him a total of $5,313,500 for lost earning capacity and associated costs after finding the trauma he suffered impaired his ability to work later in life.

In October, a record $2.7 million judgment was awarded to a former Geelong College student over the school’s handling of the sexual abuse he suffered more than 25 years ago.

Though there have been more significant settlements reached out of court, that decision of Victorian Supreme Court judge Stephen O’Meara is believed to be one of the highest judgments for institutional abuse in Australia to date.

Rightside Legal partner Michael Magazanik, who had litigated several child sexual abuse cases against institutions, said in recent years courts had been more willing to award significant damages to survivors.

“They have proper legal rights and their claims can be very, very large just like any sort of injury. For too long they were massively undervalued and plaintiffs were forced to accept charity,” he said.

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