Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to tell you a horror story tonight—a number of horror stories, actually—involving one family in Victoria where, again, our so-called justice system went terribly wrong. Once again, the victim gets less rights and less protection than a criminal gets.

It was bad enough that a little girl was sexually abused by her father for years. That brave girl and her mother went to the police and went through the court system, and the father, whose name is Alan Robson, was jailed for seven years. They thought he was safely behind bars. The mother and her daughter went to a family funeral, and they were stunned. They were shocked to see her father, her abuser, at that funeral. Nobody had warned them. True, Robson was in handcuffs and he was under supervision with an escort, but nobody had informed that girl or her mother that he had been let out on day release to attend the funeral. The victim, understandably, was so distraught she left that family funeral in tears Why wasn't she told? She was on the Victims Support Agency register, so the authorities knew exactly where to contact her.

The family then seemed to get the run-around when they sought some answers. They shared genuine fears that there would be more family events, more family funerals, while the paedophile father was in jail and asked if they would be informed if he applied for day release again. Apparently, Robson was given day release under the Custodial Community Permit Program, CCPP, and not under special funeral leave. It was the same result, but under that program a victim on the Victims Register does not have to be warned, which didn't make much sense to me, didn't make much sense to the victim and didn't make much sense to her mother. The victim's mother came to us, and so we followed it up with Corrections Victoria and we were told, 'The situation you describe is highly concerning and should not have occurred.' And we were told that an investigation would be conducted once we provided the prisoner's name and prison details.

Having had a win for victims in Victoria, the Department of Justice and Regulation and Corrections Victoria advised us that a promised review had 'identified shortcomings in upholding the best interests of registered victims'. No kidding. So, from now on, in Victorian jails prison staff must contact the Victims Support Agency before considering the granting of leave for any prisoner under the CCPP as well as under the rehabilitation and reintegration permits program and the family ties permits program. It could get even a little bit better for some victims because, in his letter to us, Acting Commissioner Rod Wise also said, 'In light of your correspondence, the possibility of extending this change to other permits will be raised with the assistant commissioner for further consideration over time.'

So it is a victory. I know it's a small victory, but it is a victory thanks to the tenacity of a mother and her daughter who brought it to our attention at a time when the rights of prisoners, the rights of convicted criminals, seem to take precedence again and again over the rights of the people whose lives they have destroyed. Hopefully, that nightmarish experience at that family funeral won't be repeated.