CAMPAIGNS
Victims of Crime (Compensation) Amendment Bill 2015 (SA)
In February 2016 the Victims of Crime (Compensation) Amendment Bill 2015 (SA) passed the Legislative
Council, doubling the maximum compensation available for victims of crime in South Australia from $50,000
to $100,000. In addition, for the first time, grief payments were eligible to children of adult homicide victims.
However, the new laws may make it more difficult for some victims to access compensation, and the redrawn injury scale will mean many victims will be eligible for only a minor increase in compensation for noneconomic loss.
Our calculations suggest that the level of compensation paid to the majority of victims under the new scale
will represent an extremely modest increase, especially in the context of a two-decade hiatus in the level of
compensation payments and an ever-growing Victims of Crime Fund.
At VSS, we advocated that the fairest and most appropriate action would have been to double pay-outs
across the board to all eligible victims.
Support services for child and adolescent victims of crime
(Case Study: Child Victims of Crime)
In 2015-16, VSS sought to highlight the need for improved victim services for children and young people.
To raise the profile and urgency of this issue, on 10 November 2015 VSS, in partnership with Anglicare SA,
VSS hosted the Improving Justice and Support for Child and Adolescent Victims of Crime Conference. At
this event a diverse group of almost 100 representatives from across the non-gover nment and government
sectors with an interest in supporting young victims of crime met to hear experts in the field talk about the
quality and extent of support for young victims and to consider and discuss what should be done to address
the gap in service provision. The consistent experience of delegates was that children and young people
who have experienced trauma as a result of crime, who fall outside the scope of child protection and mental
health agencies, do not have access to the services they require to recover from their experiences, leading
to issues in later life.
VSS undertook a snapshot survey of current clients from 14 December 2015 to 31 January 2016 to determine
how many clients of VSS have children who have also been affected by crime, what supports have been
contacted (if any), and what services they would seek for their children (were such services available).
Over the 28 work days that the survey was run, 20 adult clients were surveyed who, between them,
identified 41 children who had been impacted by the crime that led the adult to engage with VSS.
Fifteen caregivers provided further information about the offending that had impacted on their children.
The majority were domestic/family violence (53.0%), followed by sexual offences (29.4%), assault (11.8%) and
homicide (5.9%).
VSS also developed a discussion paper in response to the recommendations that flowed our of the
November Conference. This builds on and continues the commitment and engagement of key stakeholders.
The feedback from the discussion paper was consolidated into a summary report.
In June 2016, VSS won a Crime Prevention Grant for $97,000 for the Safely Together Program, which
will provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ for children and protective parents to assist in recovery from the trauma of
domestic abuse through effective, evidence-based strategies. The Safely Together Program will augment
existing adult services, promoting a collaborative, wrap-around response to children who have experienced
domestic abuse and are at risk of future contact with the criminal justice system.
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