Australian child abuse survivor Manny Waks has received a formal apology from the Jewish centre he attended as a child, and says there are positive changes happening in the ultra-orthodox community.

Mr Waks, 40, was sexually abused by a security guard at the Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne in the 1990s.

He was the first person to publicly raise allegations of child abuse in the Jewish community in Melbourne and gave evidence at the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

The Yeshivah Centre introduced a redress program for victims in December last year and Mr Waks has since gone through the process.

Loading

"You are offered three things ... ex gratia payment, therapy for a time, and opportunity for an apology. I requested all three," he told ABC News Breakfast.

Mr Waks said he received the payment and therapy, and while he initially rejected the apology he now felt comfortable accepting it.

"It felt sincere, it felt positive, it felt like something I should do," he said.

"It's not all perfect but if we wait for perfect we'll be missing a lot of opportunities.

"It does mean there is that trust and relationship between us and hopefully others will come to the table.

"From my perspective we are seeing progress, not just in terms of my case but in terms of policies and procedures and other preventative mechanisms in place."

Mr Waks has just released a book about his experience, Who Gave You Permission?, and said when he first spoke out about the abuse he felt so ostracised by the ultra-orthodox Jewish community that he moved overseas.

"We were forced out of here — I felt that we're out in exile," he said.

"I've come back here a few times for a range of things [since leaving], and I've never felt at home until this time."

'Israel risks becoming a refuge for Jewish paedophiles'

Mr Waks said while Australia was taking steps to address child abuse, he worried that "right to return" laws in Israel made it a refuge for Jewish people accused of abuse.

"Any Jew living in the diaspora has got the right of return, it's the law of return," he said.

"So what happens is if you go and offend in one country and suddenly people make allegations against you, you can just get up and leave."

Mr Waks said there were still extradition laws in place, but for many child abuse survivors it would add another level of complexity to pursuing justice for abuse victims.

"It's not as if anyone, any other criminal or alleged criminal can't just skip country and go to another place, [but] the difference here is you don't need a visa, you can stay as long as you want," he said.

"It puts the Jewish community in a unique position in that regard."