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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-25 Daily Xml
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CIVIL LIABILITY (OFFENDER DAMAGES) AMENDMENT BILL

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (10:45): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Civil Liability Act 1936. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (10:45): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I thank the government for agreeing to suspend standing orders to enable me to bring this bill forward. It relates to setting up a system in South Australia whereby victims of crime can get access to damages payments made to criminals who happened to be in prison at the time.

I took a trip to New South Wales earlier in the year and noticed a media article there indicating that a New South Wales convicted drug dealer, who had won $300,000 in a compensation claim for an injury he sustained in prison, had been forced to share $100,000 with his victims. The case was the first successful one under the legislation that parliament introduced in 2005, providing for victims to be informed within 28 days and a public notice inserted in the Government Gazette immediately when an inmate has a compensation win. This way the victims can start their own action in the Supreme Court for a share of the money. This successful case has led to three similar actions. In the case to which I refer, apart from $100,000 to victims, tens of thousands of dollars was taken to repay debts to the Victims of Crime Fund for previous payments made under the scheme to the inmate's victims.

In New South Wales, public liability claims are common, and 19 inmates have been successful since April 2005. This bill relates to damages paid to people in custody for death or injury arising from or caused wholly or in part by the negligence of the Crown. This bill gives the Crown the ability to withhold money from the damages for the following two purposes: to cover the interim payments to victims of crime relating to the offender; and/or amounts requested to be paid as part of the judgment against the offender under the Victims of Crime Act.

The bill requires that any net amount of offenders' damages be held in trust by the Crown, through the Public Trustee. Payments can be made out of this fund only for the two purposes outlined above. Other claims against or payments from the fund cannot be made. In regard to damages held in the Eligible Victims Claims Trust Fund, the Crown must inform people who may have a victim claim against the offender within 28 days of the offender damages award date. Claimants can get access to the information that tells them the total amount of the damages awarded, amounts in the fund, and the number and size of other claims. Payments from the fund are made by court order. Once all eligible claims have been made by the Crown, the Crown can declare a surplus in the trust and then pay the surplus to or at the discretion of the offender. The Public Trustee costs are taken out of the fund, and there is an appeal to the Master of the District Court.

In South Australia, payments are also made to prisoners on behalf of the Crown. I undertook an FOI on this and found that between 2002 and 2008 roughly a quarter of a million dollars has been paid to criminals. Under my bill, that money would become available to go back to the victims. It seems a commonsense move to me. Why would we not support a proposal that looks to put more money back into the pockets of victims from the pockets of offenders? The system works well in New South Wales.

I first had this bill drafted back in July of this year. I raise this because I know that some people would say that I have introduced a bill only as a result of comments made by the DPP in regard to my stance on another matter, where he questions my commitment to victims. The reality is that this bill was being drafted before those comments were made; so the commitment was already there. With those few comments, I hope that the house will see its way clear to support what I think is an eminently sensible bill.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.

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