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The outgoing chief victims advisor says an independent commissioner for victims is long overdue.
Dr Kim McGregor is leaving the role after nine years and is being replaced with victims advocate Ruth Money.
When Dr McGregor started the job in 2015 there were no work programmes or reports into victim experiences in the justice system.
She told Nine to Noon the Victims' Rights Act of 2002 was still not fully enacted today.
Dr Kim McGregor Photo: Justice Department
"It's not measured, it's not monitored, we still have very little data on victims, we have very little accountability. We don't have anybody who has the key performance indicators to say that they have implemented victims' rights and so we need sustained leadership. We need a central one stop shop for victims, that they can triage their complaints and have a continuous feedback loop," McGregor said.
She said victims' commissioners across the world were struggling with the same problem.
"The root of the problem for victims is they're not a party in the system, so they don't have their own lawyer, they don't have legal advocates and so we're struggling to implement victims' rights. I guess another problem is the siloed nature of the criminal justice system. So the police are one system, then you've got courts, then you've got Corrections, parole board. Victims see it as one system but in government they're all siloed, so we need a body that can go across all," McGregor said.
She said the government couldn't be left alone to look after victims' rights because of previous experiences which was why she was emphasising the need for an independent body.
In 2010 McGregor worked with Simon Power (who was Justice minister at the time) to set up a task force on sexual violence.
He also set up a victims centre in government which had a victims' line where they could give complaints and someone would help triage them through the system.
"Within a few years, the phoneline had been outsourced from the Ministry of Justice to Victim Support and when I got there in 2015, the victims centre had two staff that were triaging about 15 emails a month. It had just dissipated," McGregor said.
She said while she was in the role, her best year was 2022 when police, Ministry of Justice and Corrections admitted to needing infrastructure for victims.
They put together a joint budget and created the Better Outcomes for Victims programme and got $45.7 million over four years to build the first victims' infrastructure.
"I was so delighted I cried. Seven years it took, seven years and 14 reports to get to the point," McGregor said.
She hopes this work will continue and the new chief victims advisor promotes it.
