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(USGovernment-News.Com, November 12, 2012 ) Victoria, Australia -- The Australian State’s victims of crime fund has a $100 million surplus, which proves the system is broken and is in need of reform, say lawyers.
Lawyers called upon Attorney-General John Rau to raise the amount of compensation available and create minimum payouts for various crimes that paint the spectrum of possible acts.
They also urged the Attorney-General to remove the 17-year-old legal precedent that caps payouts at $12,000.
"If the Government is not using this money as it should to compensate victims, it should be called to account," barrister Stephen Ey said.
"If there is such significant excess, surely there needs to be a revisitation and review of what victims are being paid. The Government is earning about $1 million a week, and that's a huge amount of money which needs greater distribution to victims of crime."
In accordance with the Victims of Crime Act f 2001, individuals may seek a maximum of $50,000 in compensation within three years of an offence brought against them. Claims are often settled confidentially and are often done out of court.
The money rewarded comes from the VCF, which is raised through a $60 levy for each fine imposed and convicted in Southern Australia.
The Crown Solicitor’s Office manages the fund. Adelaidenow revealed the former CSO employee Nicholas Waye Lowe was one of seven charged with defrauding the fund.
Solicitor Matthew Mitchell stated that the VC levy was raised from $30 last year without a rise in payouts. “
"The fund's annual income is now more than double its annual expenditure," he said.
Mitchell stated that in 1995 the Full Court of Supreme Court ruled that any women attacked and raped in her home was entitled to a $12,000 compensation.
"It's the benchmark that is still used, by the Crown Solicitor's Office, to determine appropriate awards for cases of post-traumatic stress disorder," he said.
"To qualify for a larger award, the victim must demonstrate economic loss, such as an inability to hold down a job."
Ey said: "The fund is supposed to compensate a victim. If they've suffered significant injures and get $12,000, it's not doing much."
Rau said the size of payouts was determined by comparison with past cases.
"Any specific proposal for changes to conditions attached to payments will have long-term consequences for the fund and therefore for victims," he said. "These impacts would need to be thoroughly understood before they could be properly considered."
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