{"id":18717,"date":"2022-10-20T05:01:35","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T05:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=18717"},"modified":"2022-10-20T05:01:35","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T05:01:35","slug":"nsw-labor-will-strengthen-support-offered-to-victim-survivors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2022\/10\/20\/nsw-labor-will-strengthen-support-offered-to-victim-survivors\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW Labor Will Strengthen Support Offered to Victim Survivors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Minns Labor Government will strengthen the support offered to victims of crime by appointing an Independent Victims Commissioner, and extending Victims Support Services to the families of victims killed by a road crime.
 
NSW Labor will also host a public forum at NSW Parliament today with these organisations to discuss the state of victim\u2019s support in New South Wales.
 
On the 29th November 2021 over 60 members of the Victims of Crime Interagency (VoCI) co signed a letter to Attorney General Mark Speakman detailing concerns about the operation of victims\u2019 services in New South Wales. One year later there has still been no response.
 
Appointment of an Independent Victims Commissioner<\/strong>
A Minns Labor Government will appoint an Independent Victims Commissioner, who will act as an independent advocate for victims.
 
Presently the commissioner is the administrative head of victims’ services, responsible for budgetary and management oversight of the delivery of services to victims.

The Commissioner is placed in the impossible situation of being responsible for the agency that delivers services to victims, while being expected to act as an advocate for victims groups when the services are inadequate or inappropriate.

Extend counselling services to the families of victims killed by a road crime<\/strong>

A Minns Labor Government will extend victim support counselling services to the families of a person killed in a road crime.
 
Currently, 22 hours of free counselling are available to family members of a homicide victim, however road fatalities are excluded as they are not categorised as a \u2018violent crime\u2019.
 
NSW Labor knows that the current system is not working for victim survivors or the families of victims.
 
We recognise that a death caused by a criminal act of a driver has the same devastating impact on a family that an act of violence does, and we recognise that victims deserve and need an independent advocate in this area.
 
Under Labor\u2019s plan, this will mean approximately 200-300 additional New South Wales residents are able to receive counselling annually, on top of the 18,000 who already access these services.
 
Chris Minns, NSW Labor Leader said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Labor, victim-survivors and the families of victims will finally have the independent advocate they always argued for, the independent advocate they have always deserved.
 
“For too long, road crime has been treated differently from other forms of violent crime when it comes to the way the families of victims are treated. It is time to fix this.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Michael Daley, NSW Shadow Attorney General said:<\/strong>

“We need to recognise that a death caused by the criminal act of a driver has the same devastating impact on a family that an act of violence does.

\u201cCurrently, support counselling is available to anyone who has experienced an act of violence\u202fin\u202fNew South Wales. And it is available to family members of a homicide victim.
 
“However, the families of victims killed by a driver convicted of dangerous driving are not eligible for counselling, as this is not classified as a \u2018violent act\u2019.
 
“Under a NSW Labor Government those suffering family members will get the support they need.”

Ryan Park, NSW Shadow Minister for Health said:<\/strong>
 
\u201cThe anguish that is felt by victims and their families lasts not days and weeks but months and years after the incident.
 
\u201cInjuries aren\u2019t just physical. Social anxiety, depression and feelings of fear all need to be considered and support provided to victims and families who are often left behind.
 
\u201cNSW Labor will make sure they are provided with the much needed support if and when they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Minns Labor Government will strengthen the support offered to victims of crime by appointing an Independent Victims Commissioner, and extending Victims Support Services to the families of victims killed by a road crime. NSW Labor will also host a public forum at NSW Parliament today with these organisations to discuss the state of victim\u2019s support … Continue reading “NSW Labor Will Strengthen Support Offered to Victim Survivors”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18717"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18718,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18717\/revisions\/18718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}