DPP - Sexual Assault prosecutions
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WRITTEN QUESTIONS
10th Assembly
19/07/2005
85. DPP - Sexual Assault prosecutions
Ms Carney to MINISTER for Justice and Attorney-General
QUESTION
1. Prior to the 2005 election you announced $200,000 for the DPP to prosecute sexual assault matters. Will the prosecutors only be working on sexual assault matters.
2. In 2004/2005, the DPP received $7.3m. Its funding has been increased to approx. $7.7m. $200,000 of this is for sexual assault prosecutors. That is not a very significant increase given the high caseloads and new files opened as outlined in the Annual Report. Why wasn’t any additional funding provided.
3. Was a request for additional funds made by the Director.
4. If so, how much.
5. If a request was made but not approved, why not.
ANSWER
Answered on 18/12/2006
In 2005-06 the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) received additional funding of $200K to establish a sexual assault unit. As a result two prosecutors were employed, one in the Darwin Office and the other in Alice Springs. In addition to prosecuting complex cases the additional prosecutors also act as consultants to other prosecutors in the ODPP. The increase in staff has resulted in an increase in the capacity of the Office to provide advice and support to police investigating cases of sexual assault.
Requests for funding made by Government agencies are dealt with through the
Budget Cabinet process, the deliberations of which are confidential and I am not at liberty to confirm whether any such requests were made by the DPP.
It should be noted, however, that an increase in funding of over 22% has been received by the ODPP since the Mini-Budget to 2006-07. Details of the increase are shown in the table below.
WRITTEN QUESTIONS
10th Assembly
19/07/2005
85. DPP - Sexual Assault prosecutions
Ms Carney to MINISTER for Justice and Attorney-General
QUESTION
DPP - Sexual Assault prosecutions
1. Prior to the 2005 election you announced $200,000 for the DPP to prosecute sexual assault matters. Will the prosecutors only be working on sexual assault matters.
2. In 2004/2005, the DPP received $7.3m. Its funding has been increased to approx. $7.7m. $200,000 of this is for sexual assault prosecutors. That is not a very significant increase given the high caseloads and new files opened as outlined in the Annual Report. Why wasn’t any additional funding provided.
3. Was a request for additional funds made by the Director.
4. If so, how much.
5. If a request was made but not approved, why not.
ANSWER
Answered on 18/12/2006
In 2005-06 the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) received additional funding of $200K to establish a sexual assault unit. As a result two prosecutors were employed, one in the Darwin Office and the other in Alice Springs. In addition to prosecuting complex cases the additional prosecutors also act as consultants to other prosecutors in the ODPP. The increase in staff has resulted in an increase in the capacity of the Office to provide advice and support to police investigating cases of sexual assault.
Requests for funding made by Government agencies are dealt with through the
Budget Cabinet process, the deliberations of which are confidential and I am not at liberty to confirm whether any such requests were made by the DPP.
It should be noted, however, that an increase in funding of over 22% has been received by the ODPP since the Mini-Budget to 2006-07. Details of the increase are shown in the table below.
ODPP SIGNIFICANT BUDGET INCREASES BY FIN. YEAR. | Significant Funding $'000 | Explanation. |
| 2001/02 | Nil | |
| Mini Budget Start | 888 | Increase base funding to reflect increase workload |
| 2002/03 | 517 | Increase base funding to reflect increase workload |
| 2003/04 | Nil |  |
| 2004/05 | 100 | Increase base funding to reflect increase workload |
| 2005-06 | 200 | Sexual Assault Prosecution |
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016