Page 1691 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 July 2020
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Commissioner or the ACT Human Rights Commission. This ensures that there are opportunities for systemic advocacy and independent complaint resolution in a victim-focused context.
The human rights complaint consideration process will follow the same pathway as other service complaints, whereby information can be sought from parties to assist in resolving a complaint, recommendations can be made to an agency and a report can be made to the minister. Access to Human Rights Commission conciliation is considered to be one of the most important contexts of this framework. It is an opportunity for the victim and the justice agency to discuss the breach that is alleged to have occurred in a supported, confidential and independently facilitated environment. This may assist in a victim’s recovery and provide agencies with valuable rights to improve the treatment of victims.
The Human Rights Commission will also be able to consider a complaint about a potential breach of a charter right on its own initiative. This is important for victims who may not feel comfortable pursuing the complaint process and provides an avenue for systemic change. All agencies are required to give information to victims about the available complaints pathways if a concern is raised and the processes for resolving the concern. A victim may also nominate a representative to exercise some or all of the victim’s rights on their behalf, such as receiving information and making a complaint.
This accountability framework for victims’ rights is the strongest in Australia. Both the complaints process and victims’ rights themselves have been carefully developed with regard to existing legislative frameworks, practical implementation issues, respect for the rights of the accused and offenders, and the preservation of judicial and prosecutorial independence.
For example, while all victims have rights wherever possible, the charter recognises that there may be circumstances where contact with a victim is not possible or practicable. It acknowledges that there are agencies that often work together to deliver information to victims of crime, that sometimes the victim does not want to be contacted or cannot be found after reasonable attempts have been made and that sometimes the proceedings progress too quickly for contact to occur.
The charter also recognises that if a primary victim is contacted, a justice agency need not necessarily contact the secondary victim who is related to that person. There are also particular groups, such as victims of indictable offences and victims who are concerned about their safety, who have enhanced rights due to the nature of support required, whereas other groups of victims can access this additional information and support on request.
The bill appropriately recognises the importance of prosecutorial and judicial independence. The Director of Public Prosecutions need not comply with the provision of the Human Rights Commission Act in relation to a victim’s rights complaint if that would prejudice the independence of the DPP or the prosecution of an offence.
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