Shadow Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Steve Edgington, says Territorians who are being victimised at disgraceful rates can have little faith Labor is prioritising their rights, rather than focusing on the rights of offenders, after a number of revelations today in Estimates.
“The new Attorney-General, Chansey Paech, revealed there are 1,727 claims for Victims of Crime compensation and on average victims wait more than three years for a payout.
“There are currently 452 outstanding applications that were lodged prior to 2018. The Minister said “resourcing issues” had contributed to the backlog. That means, more than 450 Territorians have waited more than four years for compensation.
“Minister Paech confessed a review in the Victims of Crime Assistance Act, which was launched in 2018, was completed and handed to the previous Minister in 2019 – but little progress has been made since then. The Minister couldn’t say whether a single victim of crime was consulted during the review.
“Astonishingly, the Minister refused to answer basic agency information including how many vacancies there are in Corrections, or how many positions need to be recruited. “Minister Paech is either so out of his depth, he has no idea about what’s going on in these key portfolios, or he’s deliberately keeping information from Territorians. I don’t know what’s worse,” said Mr Edgington.
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