Page 4110 - Week 13 - Thursday, 6 December 2007
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this government’s 2007-08 budget announcements. The bill amends the Victims of Crime Act 1994 by introducing a scheme that makes those who break the law take on some responsibility for the harm or the potential harm caused to victims. This section of the community will do so by making a monetary payment to assist victims’ recovery through providing better and expanded services to victims in the ACT. The levy will not apply to parking offences and will be administered by the courts. The corresponding scheme administered by the Department of Territory and Municipal Services will also see traffic infringement notices penalties increased by $10.
The levy to be collected by the courts and the Road Traffic Authority will offset the upfront commitment that the government has already made in the 2007-08 budget. In the budget, the government made recurrent funding of over $500,000 available to expand and enhance services to victims of crime. This funding is managed by the Victims of Crime Coordinator, who is now responsible for the new agency known as Victim Support ACT. The funding provided for this initiative was based on an assessment of the amount that could be raised by the imposition of a modest levy of court-imposed fines and traffic infringement penalties.
Providing enhanced services to victims of crime is a high priority for this government. The government is acting on a number of levels to continue to improve the quality and efficiency of service delivery to victims. Last week I launched Victims Support ACT. As I mentioned in question time, establishment of this new agency heralds further improvement in the delivery of services to victims of crime in the ACT. For the first time people will be able to access a one-stop shop for information, for counselling and physical therapies, for practical support and for assistance with the justice process.
The new agency brings together the counselling and recovery team from the victims services scheme and the Victims of Crime Coordinator’s office to ensure victims in the justice system receive a more cohesive and streamlined response. The government has also announced a suite of funding of almost $4 million over four years to address the needs of victims of sexual assault and to support victims in the way the justice system responds to sexual assault victims.
The government recognises that being treated as a human being and as a citizen of this community is fundamental to victims’ recovery and is an important human right. This government also recognises that the needs of the very diverse range of people—adults and children, men and women of diverse cultures and capacities—who can become a victim of crime. The scheme introduced by this bill and the increase in traffic infringement notice penalties, will go some way to ensuring vulnerable victims have access to a better and full range of services to assist them in their journey to recovery.
Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I note the comments from the Leader of the Opposition when it comes to what he believes should be a different approach to raising this levy and, in particular, his argument for a graduated approach similar to that adopted in other jurisdictions. The government did give consideration to a graduated approach; however, the government came to the conclusion that the graduated approach would create a much larger impost in terms of administrative overheads to manage the application of a different range of levies dependent on the charges being faced by the offender in court and subsequently, of course, proven in court.
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