Question on Notice

No. 1683

Thursday, 2 September 2010

MR WETTENHALL asked the Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations (Mr C R Dick) -

QUESTION:

Will the Attorney-General inform the House about the implementation of the new scheme to assist victims of crime (Victim Assist ) and report on any stakeholder feedback?

ANSWER:

I thank the Honourable Member for his question. The , through the implementation of Victim Assist Queensland (Victim Assist), has demonstrated a real commitment to providing victims of violent crime in Queensland with timely access to support services and financial assistance to aid them in their journey to recovery.

The scheme commenced on 1 December 2009. Since then, Victims LinkUp, as the primary point of contact for Victim Assist, has provided a response to over 7,300 Queensland contacts. Victims LinkUp provides these contacts with information on, and support in, applying for financial assistance, as well as referring them to specialist support services. A primary referral service is Relationships Australia’s Victims Counselling Support Services program. This service is funded by the Queensland Government to provide free counselling for victims across Queensland, and works in close partnership with Victim Assist.

Relationships Australia is one of five services funded by the Queensland Government to provide services for victims of crime. The other four services are the Queensland Homicide Victims Support Group, Central Queensland Community Legal Centre, Women Working with Women with an Intellectual Disability (WWILD) and Spiritus Living Well Men’s Program.

A significant element of Victim Assist’s service delivery has been the provision of financial assistance. Since 1 December 2009 Victim Assist has paid more than $2.5M for goods and services to assist victims of violent crime to recover from their injuries. These payments are provided to victims of crime to cover costs related to their recovery, such as medical, dental, counselling, loss of income and other related expenses.

Victim Assist is committed to engaging with victims as key stakeholders. Random client satisfaction surveys showed that 96% of LinkUp contacts and 100% of Financial Assistance applicants surveyed were satisfied with services provided.

Engagement with key government and non-government stakeholders has continued since the scheme’s implementation, with Victim Assist represented on more than 18 victim service and court support provider networks across the state. Some examples of these are: the North West Queensland Victims Services Network in Mount Isa; the Victims of Crime Steering Committee; the Townsville Victim Services Network; and the based Victim Services Interagency Organisation Network (VISION).

Six of the 18 networks have been instigated by Victim Assist in order to ensure greater cooperation between services that work with victims of crime. These networks target court support in Cairns, Townsville, , Ipswich, Brisbane and in the Far North West of the state.

The benefits of this work with key stakeholders are demonstrated by initiatives such as: the trial in Rockhampton of a streamlined process whereby police can refer victims of crime to support at the court; the successful negotiation of improved access to sexual assault counselling in Cloncurry; and the partnership between Victim Assist and the Department of Communities to re-establish a service provider network on Palm Island.

A further tangible benefit of this stakeholder engagement is the capacity of Victim Assist to develop high quality publications to inform victims of crime of the services available to them. Seven such publications have already been developed. One example is A guide for victims of crime in Queensland. This resource benefitted from consultation with a variety of stakeholders, including Protect All Children Today (PACT); Relationships Australia; the Director of Public Prosecutions and Bravehearts.