Tuesday, 31 March 2026

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (18:22): (2455) My adjournment tonight is for the Attorney-General. The victims legal service is due to lose its state funding on 30 June 2026, and the action I seek is for the government to commit in this year’s budget to ongoing and properly indexed funding for the victims legal service, including the staffing uplift needed to meet demand and to stop victim-survivors being turned away. Established in 2023, the victims legal service is Victoria’s first dedicated statewide specialist legal service for victims of crime. It was created because inquiry after inquiry found that victim-survivors were too often left to navigate a complex justice system without independent legal help, even where the outcome was going to affect their safety, their recovery, their finances or their participation in court processes. It is a statewide partnership involving Victoria Legal Aid, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Djirra, Women’s Legal Service Victoria and seven community legal centres. It provides legal advice and ongoing assistance to people who have suffered injury or loss because of violent crime, including family violence and sexual violence. That includes help to access financial assistance, to pursue compensation and, under a Commonwealth-funded pilot, to protect confidential counselling and medical records in court proceedings. This is a frontline service already delivering real outcomes. From March 2023 to 31 January 2026 it provided 12,097 services to victim-survivors in Victoria. Its helpline responded to 10,513 inquiries. More than 2000 victim- survivors received legal advice or ongoing assistance, and in just one sample of 25 finalised financial assistance scheme matters, the service secured more than $380,000 supporting safety upgrades, counselling, health care, housing, support for children and other recovery needs. But demand for this service has outstripped its capacity from the beginning. Some services reached full capacity within three months, and more than 727 victim-survivors have already been turned away because partner services lacked the capacity to take referrals.

Many clients also have highly complex needs, including disability, mental health issues, experiences of family violence, regional disadvantage and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status. This is a service that is working and it fills a clear gap. It is backed by evidence, it is needed across the state and it is needed more than current funding levels were meeting. Victim-survivors should not face losing access to trauma-informed legal help because the government continues to fund this work one year at a time. Letting this service lapse would not just undermine a successful model but leave some of the people most in need of support to navigate our justice system alone.