Victims of Crime Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016

Introduced: 1/12/2016By: Hon Y D'Ath MPStatus: PASSED with amendment

Justice & Rights Children & Families Health

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Plain English Summary

Overview

This bill strengthens support for victims of crime in Queensland. It makes financial assistance easier to claim, extends it to victims of domestic and family violence including elder abuse and economic abuse, and creates a new Charter of Victims' Rights. It also introduces legal protection for sexual assault counselling records and automatically treats sexual offence victims as 'special witnesses' in court.

Who it affects

Victims of crime (especially sexual assault and domestic violence victims) gain stronger rights, easier access to assistance and better protection in court. Accused people face tighter restrictions on accessing complainants' counselling records.

Key changes

Victims no longer need a statutory declaration or medical certificate to apply for financial assistance
Funeral assistance increases from $6,000 to $8,000, and fixed special assistance payments replace variable amounts ($10,000 for the most serious acts down to $1,000)
Domestic and family violence victims, including those suffering emotional or economic abuse and elder abuse, can now access the scheme and give victim impact statements at sentencing
A new Charter of Victims' Rights replaces the old 'fundamental principles', applies to government agencies and funded non-government services, and requires agencies to proactively share information
Sexual assault counselling records are protected from being subpoenaed (absolutely in bail and committal hearings, with a court-leave test for trials and DFV proceedings)
Victims of sexual offences automatically qualify as special witnesses, allowing pre-recorded evidence, CCTV, screens and closed court
Victims of young offenders in detention can register to be told about release, transfers and escapes
The state must start recovering assistance from offenders within six years of conviction or the grant of assistance

How this affects you

Justice & Rights

•If you are a victim of sexual assault, your counselling records can no longer be dragged into bail or committal hearings at allClause 7 (new s 14D)Creates an absolute privilege that stops the accused compelling, subpoenaing, adducing or inspecting protected counselling communications in committal or bail proceedings.
•At trial, an accused person must now get the court's permission before using a complainant's counselling records, and the court must weigh the harm to you against the accused's right to a fair trialClause 7 (new ss 14F–14H)Applies a qualified privilege in trials, sentencing and DFV order proceedings; leave is only granted if the communication has substantial probative value, no other evidence is available, and the public interest of admitting it substantially outweighs the public interest in preserving confidentiality.
•As a victim of a sexual offence, you automatically get 'special witness' status, so you can give evidence by CCTV, pre-recording, with a support person or from behind a screen without having to prove you would be traumatisedClause 8Amends section 21A of the Evidence Act 1977 to include a person against whom a sexual offence has been, or is alleged to have been, committed within the definition of 'special witness'.
•A new Charter of Victims' Rights replaces the old principles and requires police, prosecutors and funded support services to proactively give you information about investigations, prosecutions and the Victims RegisterClauses 15–27, 93 (new schedule 1AA)The charter is written in plain language, applies to prescribed persons including funded non-government entities, and places a proactive duty on agencies to provide information without victims having to ask.

Children & Families

•If a young person in detention has offended against you or a loved one, you can register to be told when they are released, transferred, unlawfully at large or when their detention period endsClause 98 (new ss 282A–282F)The chief executive must keep an eligible persons register for victims, immediate family of deceased victims, parents or guardians of victim children, and others whose safety could be endangered.
•Assistance for people who were children when they suffered harm can be extended — the scheme manager can now allow funeral expense applications outside the usual three-year limitClause 45The scheme manager may extend the time for applying for funeral expense assistance having regard to the person's age at the time of death, impaired capacity, and the physical or psychological impact of the act of violence.
•Cruelty to a child under 16 is now recognised as a Category C act of violence, so child victims qualify for a $2,000 special assistance paymentClause 95Inserts an offence described in the Criminal Code section 364 (cruelty to children) into the category C list of special assistance offences.
•Sharing a detained young person's information outside the rules is a criminal offence with up to two years' imprisonment, to stop the register being misusedClause 98 (new s 282G)A person who receives detainee information must not disclose it other than as permitted; maximum penalty 100 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment.

Health

•If you have been sexually assaulted, you can now get counselling knowing your sessions are legally protected from being used against you in courtClause 7 (new ss 14A, 14D, 14F)Protected counselling communications include confidential communications made by a counselled person to a counsellor, or by a counsellor about them, to further the counselling process — regardless of whether made before or after the assault.
•Victims of domestic violence, including emotional or economic abuse and elder abuse, can now access financial help for counselling, loss of earnings and other expensesClause 29 (new s 25)Extends the definition of 'act of violence' to cover victims of domestic and family violence who suffer injury as a result, implementing recommendation 7 of the review report and recommendation 95 of the Domestic and Family Violence Taskforce Report.
•You no longer need to provide a medical certificate with your application for financial assistance — Victim Assist Queensland can gather the medical evidence itself laterClause 42Removes the requirement that an application for victim assistance be accompanied by a medical certificate and verified by statutory declaration.
•If you were injured in a motor vehicle accident or at work, your victims assistance claim will be paused until your insurance or NIIS claim is decided, so you don't get double-paid or have to repay money laterClause 33 (new ss 36A–36J)The government assessor must defer deciding an application until a motor accident claim under the Motor Accident Insurance Act 1994 or a NIISQ application is finally dealt with, to prevent double payment.

Bill Journey

Introduced1 Dec 2016View Hansard

First Reading1 Dec 2016View Hansard

▸Committee1 Dec 2016View Hansard

Referred to Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee

Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committeeportfolio

Committee Findings

Recommended passage

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee examined the bill and recommended it be passed. The bill implemented recommendations from the statutory review of the Victims of Crime Assistance Act 2009, the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence, and introduced a sexual assault counselling privilege for Queensland. The committee's single recommendation was that the bill be passed, with no dissenting views recorded.

Key findings (4)

The bill simplified the victims of crime financial assistance application process by removing requirements for statutory declarations and medical certificates
Maximum funeral assistance was increased and financial assistance categories were expanded to better support victims of domestic and family violence
The bill introduced a sexual assault counselling privilege for Queensland, making it the last Australian jurisdiction to adopt such protections, based on the New South Wales legislative model
Amendments expanded the definition of special witnesses to include victims of domestic violence offences, allowing them to give evidence via alternative arrangements

Recommendations (1)

The committee recommends that the Victims of Crime Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 be passed.

AI-generated summary — may contain errors

Committee Report27 Feb 2017

Committee report tabled

Second Reading

In Detail

Third Reading

Royal Assent30 Mar 2017

Referenced Entities

Sectors Affected

Community Services Domestic Violence Courts Criminal Law Youth Justice

Classified using AGIFT/ANZSIC Australian government standards

Victims of Crime Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016

Plain English Summary

Overview

Who it affects

Key changes

Bill Journey

Referenced Entities

Legislation

Organisations

Programs & Schemes

Roles & Offices

Sectors Affected

Source Documents