The need for a federal, Australia-wide approach to issues concerning crime victims (law)

There are now a number of significant Federal crimes that do involve natural persons as crime victims; there are more international instruments and issues that concern victims; and benefits and support for crime victims have increased, raising important Federal questions where crimes are committed overseas against Australians or where residents of one Australian jurisdiction are victimised in another jurisdiction. It is the major contention of this comment that the proliferation of these issues and others now requires a concerted and coordinated Federal response. During this comment we will identify and explore six important issues concerning crime victims that underlie the importance of such a Federal response. It will be shown that presently there are few mechanisms in place for a considered Federal reaction to these victim issues, and thus the Federal response has often been uncoordinated, inadequate and generally unsatisfactory. The comment will conclude by suggesting that a dedicated crime victims' unit within the Federal Government should be established.