Why isn't the government doing more to support sexual assault victims?

The NSW Government continues to fail victim-survivors of sexual assault. Today in Parliament, Abigail gave notice of a motion calling on the Attorney General to require the DCJ to urgently review the entire justice system's handling of sexual assault cases.

Abigail gave notice of the following motion:

I give notice that on the next sitting day I will move:

(1) That this House notes the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)’s recent announcement that it will review every sexual assault case committed for trial;

(2) That this House further notes that:

victim-survivors and peak advocacy groups have long been calling on the Government to take action to reform the entire justice system, particularly in relation to police handling of sexual assault cases, including evidence collecting and recording;
there are significant gaps and failures in the NSW justice system in relation to handling of sexual assault cases, which have been highlighted by victim-survivors, advocacy groups, legal professionals, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) and more, with conviction rates in NSW extraordinarily low compared to other jurisdictions and victims reportedly waiting inordinate amounts of time for a case to make it to trial; and
according to BOCSAR statistics:
- only half of sexual assault defendants are convicted, with less than a quarter proceeding to trial and an unknown number of cases going entirely unreported, and
- only 16 percent of victims contact police after experiencing sexual assault, largely due to an awareness of unfair and traumatising complainant treatment in courts.

(3) That this House calls on the Attorney General to require the NSW Department of Communities and Justice to urgently conduct a whole of system review of the NSW justice system in relation to handling of sexual assault cases at all stages of the justice system, to ensure victim-survivors are able to achieve justice.

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

NSW is missing out on tens of billions of dollars. By introducing a progressive coal royalty structure similar to the one in Queensland, we would have raised an extra $20 billion last year.

The NSW Government owns and controls, on behalf of the people of this state, the rights to the minerals and materials that naturally occur in NSW land.

Huge fossil fuel companies are only able to extract and sell these commodities with the consent of the State. It’s time they paid a fair price for that privilege.

The fossil fuel industry has made hundreds of billions of dollars out of their cosy relationship with governments. Granted permission to extract and sell coal, these large multinational fossil fuel corporations pay just over 7% in royalties back to the people of NSW – keeping the rest as mega-profits for themselves. These companies have a track record of taking more than their fair share and leaving communities suffering and stranded with poisoned groundwater, devastated landscapes and a stranded workforce when it suits their business models.

Globally, the hyper-inflation of fossil fuel prices driven by price-gouging opportunism and war profiteering from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has delivered record windfall profits to these already obscenely wealthy corporations. In the last year, NSW coal exports totaled over $70 billion dollars, but the people of NSW will only see about 7 cents in every dollar, or about $6 billion dollars of that amount.

Rather than going toward schools, hospitals and public infrastructure, billions of dollars went into the pockets of multinational mining corporations. The Greens believe there should be more money for schools and hospitals and less for mining billionaires.

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

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Why isn't the government doing more to support sexual assault victims?

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

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