Page 1324 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 16 April 1991
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compensation system. It was part of a major initiative that is taking place in that State towards an emphasis on victims' rights. The basic problem that that study found with criminal injuries compensation was that people were unfamiliar with the existence of such a scheme. The police association, or the police union, of course, is very familiar with this scheme and provides an advocacy service and assists members who are the victims of criminal activity in bringing claims, but the general community lags somewhat behind that.
Dramatic steps have been taken in that State - and I have referred to this in the past - to swing the emphasis in policing matters towards a concentration on victims' rights. I have referred previously to the very useful document which is given to victims of crime in South Australia. My colleague Mrs Grassby was pleased when I was able to tell her that this document that is carried in all police cars in South Australia is printed in several community languages; so there is a serious attempt to reach all members of the community, not just people who are able to read material in the English language.
A central point in this document that is widely distributed in South Australia is to tell the victim, at the point at which they originally complain to the police, that compensation is available. It seeks to assist them in the process of bringing their own claim and to bring them into contact with the Victims of Crime Service, so that they get some additional assistance in bringing their claim. Perhaps in this Territory some emphasis could also be placed on assisting the victim to become more familiar with the availability of this compensation.
There will be a cost to the community in this legislation. By definition, we are providing that the courts may award larger levels of compensation and that compensation will come out of the public purse; it will be paid for, in effect, by the taxpayers of this Territory.
I would commend to the Government another initiative that was taken in South Australia some years ago when the levels of criminal injuries compensation in that State were increased; and that was to impose a victims levy on all fines and penalties imposed by courts in South Australia. The philosophy behind that was to seek to identify the source of funding for criminal injuries compensation and to seek, in effect, to say that criminal injuries compensation will not be funded by the general community but will come out of a pot that is accumulated from payments specifically by persons who have been convicted of various breaches of the law - and that goes down even to what may be considered relatively trivial matters such as minor traffic offences or speeding offences.
For all those $60, $50 or $40 fines in South Australia there is a $5 victim impact levy. That, if nothing else, serves to focus the attention of all persons who have dealings with the criminal justice system on the fact that
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