Tuesday, 7 March 2023

Ministers statements: Victims of Crime Consultative Committee

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:36): I rise to update the house on the work of the Victims of Crime Consultative Committee. The committee is designed to ensure that the voices of victims of crime are front and centre in the criminal justice system. It does that by bringing victims of crime together with senior representatives from across the criminal justice and victim support systems.

Last week I attended the final committee meeting of the current group of victim representatives. Sharing your lived experience as a victim of crime can be an incredibly difficult thing to do. It can be distressing, it can be intimidating and it can be extremely exhausting, but it can also be empowering and it does make a difference. It is vital that we listen to and learn from the lived experience of victims, and that is why this committee and the victim representatives that serve on it have such a profound effect.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank outgoing victim representatives Cathy, Melinda, Jaylee, Russell, Sandra and Thomas. I had the honour of meeting them and hearing some of their stories. I also heard from the representatives about the work they have contributed to the committee during this current term and insights into the ongoing work of the committee, particularly the new victims legal service and the Aboriginal legal strategy. Finally, I want to thank the chair the Honourable Jennifer Coate for her work in guiding the committee. I look forward to updating the chamber again once the next term of the Victims of Crime Consultative Committee begins in June 2023.