Page 284 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2008
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Mr Gentleman: And they are just fun.
MR CORBELL: And, as Mr Gentleman says, they are just plain fun. I am not sure whether I agree with that, but anyway the trial will allow riders to chain up their motorcycles to an anchor point which acts as a deterrent to thieves. The government is working closely with industry, the ACT Motorcycle Riders Association and agencies to bring about an innovative initiative which provides practical measures to address motorcycle theft in public car parks. This is a project in which we are leading the nation, and I look forward to seeing its results.
I now turn to the issue of sexual assault. Our sexual assault reform program is well underway. It is a major interagency initiative involving victims agencies, groups such as the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre, child advocates, the police, prosecutors, courts and the broader legal profession. Consultation has informed this reform initiative. Whilst the majority of victims expressed positive views about the police response, many indicated that there were gaps in other parts of the criminal justice system when it came to support for victims of sexual assault.
Our concern about these negative experiences has led the government to invest $4 million to provide for a sexual assault reform program. The reforms are a result of the initiative of ACT Policing and the Director of Public Prosecutions in their report Responding to sexual assault: the challenge of change. We are now funding many of those recommendations, including legislative reform, the upgrade of court infrastructure to improve facilities for victims, training initiatives for police, DPP and victim advocates, and additional dedicated staff resources for police, prosecutors and victim support. Three positions will be provided to improve victim support in particular: one with the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre, one witness support officer with the DPP, and an additional officer at Victim Support ACT.
An off-site remote witness facility will also be established to enable victims to give evidence away from the court precinct, and there will be a multimedia victim information package to provide victims with information about investigation, prosecution and court processes. There are also additional officers for the police and the DPP. Importantly, there are funds for a law reform specialist to work with our justice agencies to accelerate legisative reform in areas such as pre-recorded victim statements. These are important reforms, and are designed to help make Canberra a safer and fairer place.
I now turn to the issue of domestic violence. Domestic violence is another under-reported crime in our community. In the ACT, we pride ourselves on our approach to domestic violence through the family violence intervention program. The core components of this program include: a pro-arrest, pro-charge and presumption against bail policy; early provision of victim support; pro-prosecution of criminal family violence cases where there is sufficient evidence, including a dedicated team of prosecutors in the DPP; coordination and case management of criminal family violence cases through case tracking; and rehabilitation of offenders through the provision of programs for convicted offenders and one-to-one counselling. This is a very valuable approach—one that has had a big impact and that sees Canberra lead the nation when it comes to dealing with domestic violence.
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