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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-05 Daily Xml
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Victims of Crime Fund

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:20): My question is to the Attorney-General. Will South Australians see an increase in victims of crime compensation payments following increases to the victims of crime levy? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Ms BEDFORD: As I understand it, in January 2021 the government increased the victims of crime levy from $60 to $90 per summary offence, which will collect approximately an extra $9 million a year. How will this be spent? What funding increases will be seen in the domestic violence area and other areas such as the Victim Support Service, which looks after victims of all types of crime?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning and Local Government) (15:21): I thank the member for the question because yesterday I outlined very significant draw on the Victims of Crime Fund arising out of our commitments to deal with the scourge of domestic and family violence. I outlined in that that not only was there an application for some programs but, very significantly, that the ex gratia payments that are approved by me as Attorney-General have significantly increased by millions of dollars per year.

Ms Bedford: How many?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: I am happy to go back and look at the Hansard yesterday, but there is a whole list of those programs for which there is an allocation of a very substantial increase in money from them. So, yes, I do think that there is going to be a significant shift in relation to the benefits to victims from that fund, but I urge the member to have a look at that very long list.

I didn't touch on the detail of it yesterday but $200,000, for example, is going from a fund that starts next month for the application of one-to-one counselling for children who are victims themselves of family and domestic violence or are pregnant or are parenting between the age of 12 and 24. The idea of using this money for these children who are victims themselves is to make sure that we do everything we can to address intergenerational behaviour and conduct which might be repeated to the next generation.

So, yes, I am very proud of the application of the funds. Very significant amounts, as you will see from yesterday, have been applied. We are going into some new initiatives with that money. It is designed for and statutorily protected to be available for victims, and that's precisely what's happening with it.

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