Page 4415 - Week 12 - Thursday, 24 October 2019
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We know there are families in Canberra whose experiences with the criminal justice system would have been much easier if this scheme had been in place. I am grateful to know that any future victims in this territory will be far better served because of the changes this bill introduces. I join with the rest of the Canberra Liberals in endorsing these amendments.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts, Creative Industries and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (5.53), in reply: I start by thanking members for their contributions to this debate and the support for this important piece of legislation. I also place on record my thanks to the members of the community, in particular the legal profession and specifically the Bar Association, the Law Society and Legal Aid, for their input which has helped to refine the bill in its development.
I place on record my profound thanks to the team at JACS who have been working so positively and often so tirelessly on the many recommendations that have arisen from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. That team has brought great skill, expertise and energy to this and has helped make Canberra a safer place and a stronger place for our children.
The Evidence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Bill 2019 is the latest in the series of bills that have been prepared through that team in JACS to implement the recommendations made in the criminal justice report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. As has been mentioned, the bill will establish the legal framework for the use of intermediaries and ground rules hearings in the ACT.
The royal commission heard examples of many child complainants breaking down during cross-examination due to the stress and the trauma associated with giving evidence. The criminal justice report told us that vulnerable witnesses often do not have the language to describe what happened, and even if they can articulate that something has happened they struggle to disclose this accurately to strangers, especially in unfamiliar settings. Communication barriers may also make it difficult for children to disclose the abuse with enough detail to assist further investigation and therefore the laying of charges.
At the most fundamental of levels, in order the participate in the criminal justice process children must be able to give an understandable account of what has happened, to understand the questions being asked of them and to provide that response to those questions. Without this the evidence of criminal acts perpetrated against them cannot be heard and considered. Intermediaries can ensure questions are phrased in ways that witnesses understand and then respond to.
This bill requires intermediaries to be appointed for all child complainants in sexual offence proceedings and all child witnesses to homicide proceedings subject to some exceptions. The bill provides the court with a discretion to appoint intermediaries for other witnesses, including defendants, who have a communication difficulty. We
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