Page 835 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 March 1991
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points out, there are States in Australia where currently the rights of victims are very well protected. Some States have victim impact statements. South Australia, of course, was the first State to introduce that measure, and certainly the ACT courts have used a number of matters from South Australia as precedents, especially in the sentencing area and areas such as this.
It is important for victims to feel that they are being cared for and that they in fact are not the criminals. They are there to give evidence because they have been wronged; they are there to give evidence on behalf of the community. There is a tendency in courts, because of our adversarial system built up over the years, for the defendant on occasions even to be treated as a special person, and almost as a treasured citizen, while the victims are the forgotten people. I am pleased to see that in recent years that question is being well and truly addressed. Defendants have rights and those rights must be respected, and courts do all they can to ensure that that is so. Victims also have rights and they have to be respected, and steps such as this go a long way to ensuring that that is the case.
In talking about victims' rights, I think I should say that in the ACT victims are well serviced by a group which was formed basically because victims were the forgotten people in the criminal justice system. Indeed, that has been the reason for the formation of similar groups throughout Australia. The Victims of Crime Assistance League had been going in Australia for some years, but the ACT branch was formed after young Grant Cameron was murdered, or killed rather - I think the fellow was ultimately convicted of manslaughter - at a school fete at Duffy in 1987.
I am happy and proud to say that I have had many dealings with that group over a two- or three-year period. They are a very supportive group and give a lot of support and encouragement, which I think is so terribly important for a victim, or the family of a victim, of a very serious crime. I have met many people in that group who have been victims themselves or whose children, wife, husband or parents have been victims, and they band together for support. They go to court to offer moral support and I think they have been very important in bringing to the attention of the courts and the legal system generally - and indeed to politicians in the ACT - the need for the protection of the rights of victims. Not only do they give support to each other but I think they bring to the attention of us all the need for the question of victims' rights to be addressed and, if need be, for proper legislation to be put in place to ensure that that is the case.
A number of States have adopted this declaration. I think virtually all Australian States have done so. It is a very sensible basis for further law reform. Mr Connolly alluded to a number of measures already in the South Australian legislation, including victim impact statements. In a
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