MELBOURNE – Australia’s Cricket Board has apologized to survivors of child sexual abuse involved in the sport and urged its members to join a national redress scheme.
The apology comes weeks after jailed former cricket coach and convicted pedophile Ian King had his sentence extended by almost three years for a historic sex offense involving a teenager.
Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson said historic child abuse is “an appalling problem” that society and many sports, including cricket, grapple with.
“We cannot change what happened, but we must do what we can to help the victims,” Henderson said in a statement Monday.
“On behalf of CA, I would like to apologize to everyone who has suffered sexual abuse while involved in Australian cricket.
“While we now have strict child safety policies and procedures, we must ensure that we support anyone who has experienced abuse in the past as best we can.”
CA is urging its member states and territories to join a redress scheme set up by the Australian government in 2018 to compensate victims of institutional child abuse.
“We encourage all states and territories to join the National Redress Scheme (NRS) and the CA Board is currently exploring other ways Australian Cricket can further help abuse victims,” Henderson added.
Only Western Australia has joined the NRS, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday.
Cricket ACT, the sport’s governing body in the Australian Capital Territory, applied to join the scheme in 2020 but was turned down by authorities over concerns it was unable to compensate victims.