McKee NicoleNICOLE McKEE (ACT): I stand on behalf of the ACT Party in support of this bill the Rights for Victims of Insane Offenders Bill and I along with my colleagues across the House will join in commending the Hon Louise Upston on producing this bill and working so tenaciously with the Justice Committee. The member knew what she needed to do and that was make some quite substantial changes but she stuck to it and this omnibus bill which will require multiple Acts to be amended was definitely a trial. It was no easy feat but the member was steadfast in her ideals and her passion is definitely noted. This bill should now be able to move through the processes quickly in order for that achievement to be made. The purpose of this bill—and we have to always keep going back to the purpose because when we are debating it's the purpose of the bills that we have to keep referring to—is to ensure that the victims of legally insane offenders are treated the same way as other victims of crime. We wanted to make sure of course that there was a victim-centred approach to the way that we deal with offending. One of the first bills that I came across during my new time in Parliament was the one that we just debated before the District Court (Protection of Judgment Debtors with Disabilities) Amendment Bill and this one as well. I arrived once again in the middle of it. My experience with going through the select committee process has really been one of turning up and being a submitter and leaving again not actually being part of the changes—and boy did I get a lesson by fire in this one. That's because we had so many different bills that we had to consider and how potential changes that we were going to make could affect other pieces of legislation. I've never been in that situation before and I learnt a great deal from that. I hope to be able to take those learnings into other bills and work again across the Parliament with other parties to produce what we hope will be good laws. The realities of today totally surprise me and when I spoke to others about the lack of rights that victims of insane offenders have they were just as surprised as well. The victims' grief is not different just because the perpetrator is insane and I would like to take the time to thank all of those submitters that came and gave us their stories. And the submitters were not just victims. We also had submitters who were family members of insane offenders that recognised what was happening and wanted to be part of that victim-centred approach. I'd like to thank all of those submitters for their input. They turned up. They turned up to speak of some harrowing stories as we've heard that they put to pen and paper and to relive it both in written form as well as verbally must have been a very hard thing for so many of them. I'd like to thank them for their understanding—their understanding of the process that we have to go through and the time that it takes to do so because a lot of them are actually needing support now but realising that we have to go through that process and understanding it—I credit them for that. The reasoning that they gave us it wasn't just about them; it was about everybody who comes into contact with crime through this avenue and that is with an insane offender. But most of all I'd like to commend the submitters' bravery—the bravery of them to tell us their stories and as I mentioned both to put it in writing and to verbally appear before a bunch of strangers and tell us some of their most intimate details. The common theme that we heard from those submitters was how it felt to hear those words not guilty" and that came from just about every single submitter that we had. It's amazing really how changing a few words can change a person's life for the better and I'm proud to be associated with a bill that has achieved that. The words that were changed—from "not guilty by way of insanity" to "the acts or omissions are proven but the defendant is not criminally responsible on account of insanity" to "proven but insane"—was all a bit of a mouthful but we worked through it and we got to the end point. This effectively makes a huge difference to the lives of the victims. To be able to hear "proven but insane" is so much different to "not guilty by way of insanity" and effectively this brings these victims in line with victims of other crime. It gives them the opportunity to actually have a voice—the opportunity to be heard. It gives them the ability to be counted in or counted out of receiving updates or updating notifications about what's happening with the offender. They never had that before. It allows victim impact statements to be submitted. Usually in the court process a victim impact statement is able to be given at sentencing but with an insane offender often in those cases there is no trial so there's no ability for a victim impact statement to be given. This allows for a victim impact statement to be given at the disposition hearing point which is before a trial would take place. It also means that should they choose to receive it they will be told when an offender is on leave from the institution that they are secured in. If they are released back into the community the victim has the option of being advised about that. We did hear stories as Hon Louise Upston told us of a victim bumping into an offender in the supermarket. We've also heard of banging into people in the street. Being aware that an offender is out on leave would be helpful and bring it in line with when sane offenders are given parole.What we have here now is a bill that recognises victims and gives victims opportunities to know more. I hope that this bill in the stage that we've gone through with the select committee actually gives some comfort to those victims that their often intimate sacrifices their unwanted lifelong emotional and physical scars their personal safety and wellbeing can be recognised now and acknowledged legally as appears to be happening with cross-party support of the bill. I say "now" because it looks like we do have full support and it's going to go through. On that I thank the Hon Louise Upston for her tenacity for her drive and in that respect the ACT Party commends this bill to the House."