Mr BONSON - 2005-06-30
The Martin Labor government has a strong record of delivering improved services and support for victims of crime. What additional measures has the government now put in place to further boost support for victims of crime?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question, as this is a very important area of my responsibilities. In its first term, our government provided more money for the Victims of Crime NT to carry out their very important support work around the Northern Territory. We have also provided money to victims around the Territory for clean-up and security assistance following house break-ins and other property crimes. We have given victims a greater voice in sentencing in our parole board arrangements and through victim/offender conferencing. Victims are now very much integral to the handling and resolution of cases coming through our justice system. We have brought in new witness intimidation laws to improve the security of witnesses, particularly those giving evidence in cases involving violent crime.
During the course of the election we announced that we would be helping Victims of Crime NT further in the next four years with an increase of 50% to their funding to allow them to expand their work throughout Territory centres. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the fantastic work that that organisation does, largely through volunteers. Sue Lowry has provided able leadership. She is now expecting a child and so we will be seeing a change of personnel. However, I pay tribute to her work.
We will introduce a victim’s rights charter, which will entrench into Territory law the rights of victims to proper process under our justice system, with rights to be heard and to have their interests protected. We will introduce a victims of crime register which will allow families affected by serious crimes to be apprised of the progress of the offender through punishment and back out into the community to the degree that the victim’s family might be affected by that.
We will carry out improvements to the Darwin and Alice Springs court houses to provide better separation between witnesses, victims and alleged offenders, so we are not seeing a milling-around effect in the middle of those court houses. The Victims of Crime Assistance Scheme will be revamped to better meet the needs of victims and provide urgent access to counselling, relief service and funds for essential expenses.
All of that proves, practically, our commitment to support victims of crime in our community.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question, as this is a very important area of my responsibilities. In its first term, our government provided more money for the Victims of Crime NT to carry out their very important support work around the Northern Territory. We have also provided money to victims around the Territory for clean-up and security assistance following house break-ins and other property crimes. We have given victims a greater voice in sentencing in our parole board arrangements and through victim/offender conferencing. Victims are now very much integral to the handling and resolution of cases coming through our justice system. We have brought in new witness intimidation laws to improve the security of witnesses, particularly those giving evidence in cases involving violent crime.
During the course of the election we announced that we would be helping Victims of Crime NT further in the next four years with an increase of 50% to their funding to allow them to expand their work throughout Territory centres. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the fantastic work that that organisation does, largely through volunteers. Sue Lowry has provided able leadership. She is now expecting a child and so we will be seeing a change of personnel. However, I pay tribute to her work.
We will introduce a victim’s rights charter, which will entrench into Territory law the rights of victims to proper process under our justice system, with rights to be heard and to have their interests protected. We will introduce a victims of crime register which will allow families affected by serious crimes to be apprised of the progress of the offender through punishment and back out into the community to the degree that the victim’s family might be affected by that.
We will carry out improvements to the Darwin and Alice Springs court houses to provide better separation between witnesses, victims and alleged offenders, so we are not seeing a milling-around effect in the middle of those court houses. The Victims of Crime Assistance Scheme will be revamped to better meet the needs of victims and provide urgent access to counselling, relief service and funds for essential expenses.
All of that proves, practically, our commitment to support victims of crime in our community.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016