Australian Olympic Committee Chief Executive warns sport bodies may struggle with national redress scheme claims

Australian Olympic Committee Chief Executive, Matt Carroll, has warned that the national redress scheme for sexual abuse victims could put some sports at risk of becoming insolvent if they signed up.

His comments follow criticism aimed at Swimming Australia by Australian swimming great Shane Gould for not signing up to the redress scheme, describing them as "scared" or not fully understanding the problem.

The scheme - one of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse - enables survivors to receive compensation without having to go through a lawsuit.

In a statement on Sunday, Swimming Australia said it was "obtaining advice on the best way forward and has not formed a view either way" on joining the scheme.

As reported by the ABC, the scheme has a 30th June deadline for organisations to join.

Carroll said that Swimming Australia and a number of other sports had not yet signed up to the scheme but were "fully committed" to dealing with survivors.

He told the ABC “the issue is being able to meet the financial requirements of the scheme, and also even if we did that, to be able to ensure that the sports can actually meet those (requirements).

"Most of the Olympic sports aren't large organisations, and they simply could become insolvent and therefore not be able to meet the financial commitments, and it would be the people who have been sexually abused as children who would miss out.

"That's what we're working with the scheme on, and with the minister (Federal Families and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston)."

Carroll said the AOC had been engaging with the Federal Government for several months on behalf of the 44 Olympic sports in Australia, advising that the way the national redress scheme worked, there was a financial test required to sign up, and that Swimming Australia and others did not have enough money to pass the test.

Carroll added "a claim of $150,000 is the maximum payout - if there was several of those claims, then I doubt Swimming Australia and the greater majority of sports (would be able to remain solvent).

"The issue we've got is around that financial piece, because the scheme was set up for major institutions such as the churches, it wasn't set up for the organisations that we represent, the sports."

While Swimming Australia had taken measures to ensure children's safety in the sport, including education programs for staff, Gould had said the organisation needed to show it was doing more.

She said the abuse cases that had been exposed in swimming clubs had led to a struggle to get and keep members in the sport.

Gould stated "I think more transparency and the redress system would help membership and participation.”

Carroll said that he was due to meet with representatives of the Insurance Council of Australia to see if he could "find a way through".

He acknowledged that one possible solution was to have a separate redress scheme for sporting organisations, with different mechanisms to avoid pushing sports into insolvency in cases of multiple claims.

Carroll concluded "I've met with the administrators (of the redress scheme) a number of times, some of my staff have been engaged with them ... just as recently as last week

"They (the administrators) are now seeing what the issue is, they weren't seeing it for a while … hence I have a meeting with the minister next week to see if we can get our way through.”