Page 3835 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 4 December 2007
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We will also have state-of-the-art television monitors and closed-circuit cameras in two courtrooms, one in the Magistrates Court and one in the Supreme Court. That will give us the capacity to properly convey the victim’s evidence to the court—to the judge, to the jury and to others in the courtroom.
We know that one of the big limitations with our technology at the moment is that it is of poor quality and does not properly convey the evidence that is being given by the person who is using the closed-circuit television relay. That diminishes the weight of their evidence in court, so we need to improve that; this will provide us with state-of-the-art capacity to do so.
Another very important reform funded in this budget is more support for our DPP and our police—an additional prosecutor for the DPP to assist with sexual assault matters and an additional person, a police officer, for the sexual assault child offenders team, which is designed to provide more resources for our police and the dedicated police team that deals with sexual assaults against children.
There is also, very importantly, funding to provide for the development of a major legislative reform package. The government is on the record as saying that our existing law is inadequate. Our existing law does not properly provide for the needs of victims who give evidence in sexual assault matters.
There is a whole range of other provisions that also need to be addressed in terms of court procedure and practice as part of this reform package. The government is committed to a holistic and comprehensive law reform package; this funding gives the government the capacity to do that work. I look forward to bringing those provisions to the Assembly next year and for their passage so that we can deal with some of the structural legislative issues around supporting victims of sexual assault in the court.
This is a very important budget for the justice portfolio, focused on providing for a fairer and safer Canberra. The provision of the closed-circuit television network and the extension of that across public areas of the ACT—our CCTV network for public safety and security—are another element being funded through this appropriation. This provides us with the capital to upgrade the CCTV network in a number of public places around the ACT. This is stage 1. Stage 2 will involve the further expansion of the territory’s public CCTV network to include our bus interchanges and a number of other public places, including Manuka Oval and potentially including other town centres.
I am particularly keen to see its application in other town centres. We know that the city is not the only place where people gather late at night or that are places of mass gathering generally. Our town centres—Belconnen, Woden, Tuggeranong and Gungahlin—are all important centres as well. Public safety and amenity would be greatly improved by the use of CCTV technology in those locations, and the government is keen to progress that. This funding will enable us to get a good head start on this work and allow us to follow it through.
The committee’s report basically endorses the government’s appropriation bill. Yes, there are some quibbles, and there are some points of political point scoring along the
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