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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-12-08 Daily Xml
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Victims Of Crime (Compensation) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

Received from the House of Assembly and read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (23:04): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading explanation inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

This Bill fulfils the Government's election commitment to double the maximum compensation payment to victims of crime to $100,000 and to extend eligibility for grief payments to the children of homicide victims.

The compensation payment for grief will double to $20,000 and payments for funeral expenses will double to $14,000.

Increases to payments for legal practitioners representing victims of crime will be addressed in the Victims of Crime (Statutory Compensation) Variation Regulations 2015.

This Bill also provides for the indexation of payments annually. This will ensure that compensation and other payments to victims of crime remain relevant over time.

In South Australia victims of crime are compensated in accordance with the provisions of the Victims of Crime Act 2001. The objects of the Victims of Crime Act 2001 are:

to give statutory recognition to victims of crime and the harm that they suffer from criminal offending;

to establish principles governing how victims of crime are to be treated by public agencies and officials;

to help victims of crime recover from the effects of criminal offending and to advance their welfare in other ways; and

to provide from public funds limited monetary compensation to victims most directly affected by criminal offending.

The maximum payment that can currently be received by a victim of crime under the Victims of Crime Act 2001 is capped at $50,000. This cap covers compensation for both economic and non-economic loss.

Compensation for non-economic loss (pain and suffering) is awarded in accordance with section 20 of the Victims of Crime Act 2001. The non-financial loss is assigned a numerical value on a scale of 0-50 reflecting the extent of the loss and the value is then multiplied by $1,000 (the multiplier) to arrive at the appropriate compensation figure. To be compensable, the non-financial loss must be assigned a numerical value in excess of two on a scale of 50.

Schedule 1 of the Bill contains an amended scale of compensation that employs numerical values of 0-60 rather than 0-50. This brings the scale into line with the scale of compensation used in the Civil Liability Act 1936.

The maximum amount of compensation payable to victims of crime has been doubled to $100,000 and the compensation amounts assigned to the other numerical values on the scale have also been increased in a weighted distribution to ensure that victims who have suffered greater loss are more generously compensated. This is similar to the way in which the compensation scale in the Civil Liability Act 1936 is designed.

Adopting the Civil Liability Act 1936 scale of 0-60 will lead to a general increase in the numerical value assigned to each claim for non-economic loss. For instance, it is estimated that a claimant receiving $12,000 (12 points under the current 50 point scale) would receive 18 points (out of 60 points) or $19,000 in compensation under the new scale.

The Government has also committed to grief payments to $20,000 and payments for funeral expenses to $14,000.

The Government is also extending the eligibility for grief payments. The Bill provides that a child of a homicide victim, under the age of 18, will now be eligible for a grief payment. Previously payments were restricted to the adult children of homicide victims.

Payments made under the Victims of Crime Act 2001 will now be indexed in accordance with the consumer price index to ensure that their value does not decline as a result of inflation. This includes compensation payments awarded under the scale as well as the grief payment and funeral expenses payment.

The payments made to legal representative of victims of crime will also be increased. This commitment will be fulfilled through the Victims of Crime (Statutory Compensation) Variation Regulations 2015.

The courts, when sentencing or convicting a defendant under the age of 18, will be able to release the defendant from having to pay the levy in relation to that offence.

I commend the Bill to Members.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

3—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Victims of Crime Act 2001

4—Amendment of section 3—Objects

This clause makes a minor change to the statement of objects to make it clear that the compensation provided under the statutory scheme is an acknowledgement of the harm that victims suffer from criminal offending.

5—Amendment of section 4—Interpretation

This clause amends the definition section to allow for CPI increases of monetary amounts in the Act.

6—Amendment of section 17—Eligibility to make claim

This clause allows a minor child of a homicide victim to claim statutory compensation for grief suffered in consequence of the commission of the homicide and makes amendments of a statute law revision nature (to update the existing references to the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1986).

7—Amendment of section 20—Orders for compensation

This clause increases the maximum amounts of statutory compensation that may be ordered under section 20 (and allows for indexing of those maximum amounts). In addition the court is, under subsection (3) now to assign a numerical value on a scale of 0 to 60 when determining non-financial loss (rather than the current 0 to 50 scale).

8—Amendment of section 25—Legal costs and disbursements

This clause amends the current provision regulating legal costs and provides that regulations may make provision in relation to the costs of proceedings under this Act and recovery of disbursements.

9—Amendment of section 27—Payment of compensation etc. by Attorney-General

This clause allows for indexing of the $10,000 minimum amount prescribed in section 27(3)(c).

10—Amendment of section 28—Right of Attorney-General to recover money paid out from offender etc.

This clause makes it clear that the Attorney-General may apply for summary judgment in favour of the Crown (and against the offender) of an amount that is less than the aggregate of the amounts paid by the Attorney-General as statutory compensation and costs.

11—Amendment of section 29—Recovery from claimant

This clause inserts a new offence into the Act requiring a claimant who receives compensation or damages from another source to notify the Attorney-General within 30 days. The maximum penalty for the offence is $1,250.

12—Amendment of section 32—Imposition of levy

This clause amends section 32 to provide that a court may, at the time of convicting or sentencing a person under the age of 18 years for an offence, exonerate the defendant from liability to pay the levy in relation to that offence.

13—Insertion of section 34A

This clause inserts a new provision allowing the Crown Solicitor to disclose to a victim information relating to the whereabouts of an offender or any means of contacting an offender (to facilitate the service of documents on the offender by or on behalf of the victim).

14—Amendment of section 37—Regulations

This clause amends the regulation making power consequentially to clause 8.

15—Insertion of Schedule a1

This clause inserts the table of compensation amounts corresponding to the various numerical values (now to be on a scale of 0 to 60) that may be assigned by a court determining a claim for statutory compensation for non-financial loss pursuant to section 20(3)(a).

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. D.W. Ridgway.

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