18 March 2025
The union representing teachers and support staff in non-government schools welcomes the NSW Labor government’s Bill to crack down on claim farming, introduced into the NSW Parliament today.
Claim farming is a predatory practice of pressuring people to lodge fraudulent compensation claims for historical sexual abuse.
NSW Attorney General Michael Daley said the Claim Farming Practices Prohibition Bill 2025 will stop the harm inflicted by claim farmers who seek to profit off vulnerable people such as victim survivors of child sexual abuse.
Claim farming also has a catastrophic impact on innocent teachers who have been subjected to false claims of sexual abuse.
Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews said claim farming was a substantial and growing problem in non-government schools.
“There has been an unprecedented increase in claims of historical sexual abuse in the past few years,” Matthews said. “Fake sexual abuse claims devastate innocent teachers as well as their families, colleagues and the school community.”
Matthews said claim farming was an abhorrent practice that sought to profit from the suffering of others. “No one should have their lives ruined by criminals seeking to make money with lies,” she said.
The Bill would help protect innocent teachers against false claims of sexual abuse, while ensuring victim-survivors receive redress for crimes committed against them, Matthews said.
“Fraudulent applications exploit these survivors and undermine the integrity of schemes set up to compensate them,” she said.
“False compensation claims also divert resources away from supporting victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse.”
The state Labor government’s move to prohibit claim farming follows the arrest of seven people in February over an alleged scheme to make fraudulent compensation claims against the NSW Department of Education and the NSW Department of Communities and Justice for historical child sexual abuse.
“We urge all members of the NSW Parliament to vote for this Bill and send a strong message to claim farmers that they will be prosecuted and punished for trying to ruin the lives of innocent teachers,” Matthews said.
Contacts
Carol Matthews, IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary, 0418 272 902
Media: Monica Crouch, 0486 046 975, monica@ieu.asn.au
The IEUA NSW/ACT Branch represents over 32,000 teachers, principals and support staff in Catholic and independent schools, early childhood centres and post-secondary colleges.
Authorised by Carol Matthews, IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary
