Victims of Crime Fund

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:50): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question in relation to the Victims of Crime Fund.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: The Victims of Crime Fund currently has a balance of around $266 million and is forecast to increase to $366 million by June 2020. Although the Victims of Crime (Compensation) Amendment Act raised the maximum amount of compensation claimable from $50,000 to $100,000 only five victims have received more than $50,000 in compensation payments from the fund. Moreover, in 2015-16 only $13 million was actually paid to victims, despite the fund receiving income in the order of $58 million for the same year.

The amount of $3 million of that was absorbed by administration costs, which represents nearly a quarter of the money actually paid out to victims. According to more recent numbers, the fund incurred $14 million in administration costs, while only $31 million was paid to victims. My questions to the minister are:

1. Why is approximately only 20 cents of every dollar received by the Victims of Crime Fund actually going to victims on average per year?

2. What justification is there for the very high administration costs involved in maintaining the fund?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:51): I thank the honourable member for his important question regarding an important fund. As the chamber most likely already knows, the Victims of Crime Fund falls under the control of, or is the responsibility of, the Attorney-General. In that context, I am more than happy to take on notice the question for the responsible minister and get a response back as quickly as possible.