Page 2610 - Week 08 - Thursday, 14 August 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Those are the funding commitments made by this government on repeated occasions from 2006-07 to the current day to support and improve the capability of the DPP. In the most recent budget there is even more funding being made available. In particular, funding is being made available to support the Director of Public Prosecutions in his prosecution responsibilities for breaches of the work health and safety laws. We have provided $1.158 million in funding over four years for the establishment of a dedicated work safety prosecutions unit to manage the increased number of WorkSafe prosecutions that will result from the increased capacity of our work safety inspectorate, which we know will lead to a higher level of compliance action, including prosecutions.
Members would recall that in last year’s budget the government funded eight additional WorkSafe inspectors, to have more WorkSafe inspectors out on building sites and other workplaces across the ACT, to deal with the problems we saw that resulted in four tragic deaths over the past five years on workplaces here in the ACT.
Of course, that flows through to increased prosecutorial action. The government has provided funding of over $1 million over four years to fund dedicated prosecutorial capacity to follow through on those matters and to deal with them appropriately. So the government has a very strong record of continuing to support the work of the DPP.
Other funding in this budget is also very important. The budget provides for $6 million over four years to deliver a justice reform strategy focused on sentencing reform, supported by targeted research and evaluation, the development of justice reinvestment options and a proposed research project on justice reinvestment. This is perhaps the most significant of all the elements in the current Justice and Community Safety budget.
We know, for example, that there are enormous opportunities to do more work and deliver more and better outcomes for the community through the use of restorative justice. The ACT has been a leader for many years in the delivery of restorative justice outcomes. The existing restorative justice unit provides restorative justice for young offenders—that is, juveniles—and for less serious crimes. But what we know is that the evidence tells us very clearly, not just in relation to our program but in relation to restorative justice programs around the world, that restorative justice works best for serious offenders, serious crimes and for adult offenders. And it works best for victims. At the end of the day, that is what a justice system is all about—it is all about the victims, it is all about providing for restoration, rehabilitation and healing for those victims and for recognition of wrongdoing on the part of offenders.
Restorative justice leads to better outcomes for victims than the traditional court sentencing process. It leads to better closure for victims than the traditional court trial process. It leads to better restoration for victims in allowing them to move on with their lives.
It also allows better outcomes for offenders, because offenders have to confront the consequences of their wrongdoing in a manner that can at times be avoided through the traditional court process. It is very easy to hide behind your lawyer in court, to not
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video