Page 829 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 March 1991
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Following that, we had the emergence in Australia of more general lobby groups for victims of crime, led, in South Australia in 1979, by Mr Ray Whitrod, a former Commissioner of Police in Queensland, who established the Victims of Crime Service in that State. That was followed by the Victims of Crime Assistance League in Victoria and later, following a tragic incident in this Territory, by VOCAL in the ACT.
Governments began to take notice of this demand from citizens for a concern for victims, and the Milan United Nations congress in 1985 was the high-water mark of that international concern at which a declaration of victims' rights was proposed. We are saying in this motion today that that should be taken as a basis for future action. In some areas legislation may well be required, but in a number of fields the recommendations of this declaration can be dealt with administratively. That has been done in South Australia very effectively, and I will refer to that.
The first right that is referred to in the Declaration of Victims' Rights is the right to:
be dealt with at all times in a sympathetic, constructive and reassuring manner and with due regard to the victim's personal situation, rights and dignity;
One would think that that hardly needs to be stated and one would have some confidence that the police force in this Territory endeavours to do that in any event. So I do not think a lot of action needs to be taken there, but it does need to be stated as a primary goal of law enforcement. The second principle is the right to:
be informed about the process of investigations being conducted by police (except -
obviously -
where it might jeopardise the investigations);
There is an element of criminal law secrecy for investigations that must be preserved. That is an area where action could be taken and where the police and prosecution services could improve their record. It is not a criticism of them that they are not doing it at the moment because they have never been directed so to act. But a very simple improvement could take place there, as has taken place in South Australia, where a very simple booklet has been prepared, "Information for Victims of Crime". It is written in a very plain English style, but my colleague Mrs Grassby will be pleased to know that it is also written in plain Italian, Greek, Serbian, Vietnamese, Chinese and a number of other languages. I have not brought the full range of documentation here.
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