CDDA Scheme

Context

Australia's Compensation for Detriment caused by Defective Administration (CDDA) Scheme is one of the Commonwealth’s most enigmatic pathways of redress. It exists as a discretionary administrative mechanism: a last-resort programme intended to provide compensation where a person has suffered loss because of defective government administration, and where no enforceable legal right to compensation exists.

And yet, despite its ethical aspiration, claims under the Scheme are rarely successful.

In this TalkAbout from Post-Law Peacemaking, we explore the CDDA Scheme not only as a technical framework, but as a relational justice problem — a site where discretion, institutional boundaries, and human harm meet.

Focus

Together we will discuss:

• How does one access the CDDA Scheme?
• What kinds of harm and detriment does it cover — and what falls outside it?
• Why are claims so often refused, even where the underlying story is compelling?
• Can CDDA decisions be challenged, reviewed, or reopened — and if so, how?
• What kinds of conflict underlie administrative compensation claims?
• How do institutional risk, narrative framing, and procedural distance shape outcomes?

This session will also examine the deeper dynamics at play: the tension between discretionary mercy and bureaucratic defensiveness, and the ways in which unresolved conflict shapes both claim-making and the possibility of accord.

Who's it for?

This TalkAbout is designed for:

• veterans’ advocates and support practitioners
• public sector professionals and integrity advisers
• administrative justice and ombudsman-oriented thinkers
• mediators and dispute system designers
• anyone working at the intersection of governance, harm, and repair

We approach the CDDA Scheme through the lens of care ethics, relational justice, and post-law peacemaking — asking not only what the Scheme is and how it works, but what it reveals about administrative justice when administrative law has reached its limits.