Victims of Crime

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:17): My question is to the Attorney-General.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Will the Attorney-General inform the council about the work of the Labor government so far in this term to support victims of crime?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Deputy Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (15:18): That is a very good question. I think I have some information I can help the honourable member with today. It can often be too easily forgotten that in the criminal justice system, whenever we see reports of, whenever we hear of a crime committed, there are inevitably victims of that crime.

This government has had a focus to make sure the needs, the rights of victims are at the centre of what we do in the criminal justice system, so it is with great pleasure that I am able to update the Hon. Russell Wortley, and the chamber more generally, on the government's body of work undertaken so far this term to better support victims of crime in South Australia through both legislative reform and other support mechanisms.

From the outset, the government has listened to the advocacy of the Commissioner for Victims' Rights in relation to the way victim impact statements operate, and in 2024, after much consultation, we introduced and passed legislation to improve the victim impact statement process for victims and their loved ones in South Australia.

These important victim-centric changes to the Sentencing Act came into effect on 1 April of this year and include amendments to provide that victim impact statements should not be edited for admissibility purposes and to require that victims are educated around how victim impact statements operate, how they can be used by the court, and their general rights and obligations surrounding them.

We have also passed a bill through the parliament to improve the way complaints of judicial officers are handled through the Judicial Conduct Commission. These changes, which came into effect on 1 August this year, were as a direct result from suggestions from complainants who have been through the system and, as a result, some of the changes to the law now include:

amending the definition of a complaint so the person will be considered a complainant where the misconduct concerning the inquiry was also directed at them, even if they did not make the original complaint, ensuring they also get the benefit of protections and information that a primary complainant does;

requiring the Judicial Conduct Commissioner to publish guidelines to provide direction for future members of judicial conduct panels and provide future participants with a greater understanding of how a judicial conduct panel will deal with complaints; and

providing that section 13 of the Evidence Act will apply to an inquiry to provide the same access to witness protections for persons giving evidence to a judicial conduct panel that are available to witnesses in other legal proceedings.

Further reform was made under this term of government to the verdict term 'not guilty due to mental incompetence', which has now been removed and replaced as part of a move to better reflect both the experience of victims and the findings of the court.

There was concern amongst many victim advocates that the term 'not guilty' in this context was not appropriate and can lead to distress and confusion in the community, and also fails to adequately encapsulate the court's findings. The wording of such a court finding now reads 'conduct proved, but not criminally responsible' due to mental incompetence to better reflect the experience of victims and the nature of the offence.

Reforms to better protect victims of personal injury from predatory behaviours have also passed the parliament under this government, with the legislation preventing unsolicited contacts made to victims of personal injury in order to solicit them to make a claim. Further to these legislative reforms to improve outcomes for victims, a significant amount of funding has also been directed to victims in South Australia.

Early in this term of government, we restored funding to the Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service, ensuring that more women experiencing domestic violence can seek out accessible and comprehensive legal services across South Australia. We directed over $1.6 million in funding to the Women's Legal Service to allow them to provide face-to-face legal advice and education to vulnerable women at risk of or experiencing domestic and family violence in northern and southern regions, including Port Augusta, Mount Gambier and surrounds.

Further to this, we have funded the Working Women's Centre with over $2.6 million to provide much-needed frontline support to address workplace sexual harassment and discrimination. This is just a small array of the many victim-centred initiatives this government has enacted so far and we look forward to continuing this in the years to come.