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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 10 Hansard (26 November) . . Page.. 3039 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

As I indicated previously in these comments, the Government's reforms will go beyond merely providing financial assistance by including measures for rehabilitative and practical assistance to victims of crime. The Bill amends the Victims of Crime Act 1994 to provide for the establishment of a comprehensive new victims services scheme.

Unlike the schemes set up in New South Wales and Victoria, the Territory's new victims services scheme will provide more than just counselling services to victims. Its primary purpose is the rehabilitation of the victim, both emotionally and physically, to the extent that this is reasonably achievable. No other victims assistance scheme in Australia goes this far and some may question why the ACT should take the lead by including certain physical rehabilitation services. The answer is that it is both simpler and more efficient for victims, the Territory and service providers for some types of rehabilitation services to be provided through the new scheme instead of requiring victims to obtain these services privately and then apply to the court for reimbursement.

Given the comparative novelty of the Government's approach, the details of the new scheme will be spelt out in regulations and guidelines rather than in the primary legislation. The use of regulations will enable adjustments to be made as and when experience shows them to be necessary.

The Government will select the agency to operate the new scheme by a competitive tender. A steering committee has been appointed to prepare draft regulations, guidelines and tender specifications for the new scheme and to advise the Government on the selection of the agency to operate it.

It is envisaged that the new victims services scheme will be funded to assist victims in a variety of ways, in particular by providing information to victims about the criminal justice system, their rights and responsibilities and the help available to victims; acting as case managers by coordinating the delivery of a range of rehabilitative services to victims either in-house or through referral to approved health and rehabilitation service providers; and putting victims in touch with appropriate groups and agencies in the community who provide other forms of assistance and support.

It is intended, Mr Speaker, that the assistance under the new scheme be accessible to a wider range of victims than financial assistance. As a starting point, the Bill provides that all categories of victims will be eligible to use the new scheme, subject to satisfying any eligibility criteria to be set out in the regulations, if there are any such criteria. The regulations can specify that different categories of victims, or victims in different circumstances, will have different levels of entitlements to assistance. This will ensure that victims are able to receive the level and type of assistance appropriate to their needs rather than adopting a sausage factory whereby all victims receive the same treatment.

Once the scheme is established the steering committee will be replaced by a Victims Assistance Board with responsibility for developing guidelines for the scheme's operation, supervising the funding arrangements for the scheme and generally overseeing the management of the scheme.

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