Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – The Greens are pleased to be able to support this bill, as we did when it was introduced and debated in the Assembly in 2023. I would also like to acknowledge at this point that I am taking carriage of this bill on behalf of our colleague in the Legislative Council, Cassy O’Connor MLC, who is the Greens Attorney‑General and Justice spokesperson.
As I did in 2023, I want to discuss some of the context of this bill. The evidence that was aired at the commission of inquiry, as well as media reporting of certain cases and the commentary and real concerns expressed by victim/survivors drew into question at the time whether the State of Tasmania had been properly applying model litigant standards. For people who might not know, model litigant standards are a form of code of practice or guidelines for behaviour about how a party should behave in legal proceedings, before courts and in disputes resolution and compensation processes. They are particularly important to look at the standards that are appropriate in different types of dispute resolution and compensation.
Child sexual abuse has an extremely particular and high bar in terms of the compassion and sensitivity that needs to be at the core of the way the legal process occurs. Maintaining a respectful, supportive and informative approach in the execution of processes and in working towards an outcome is paramount. It is critical that no party is taken advantage of, particularly a person who lacks resources to litigate a legitimate claim. Resources could include, for example, their emotional resources, their legal support, their therapeutic and professional support that is available to them in the process of them giving evidence and arguing the case for their claim. It is important for a person not to have to prove a matter that, in this case, the Crown knows to be true. This is the matter that brought this bill into being. Prior to the announcement of the State Litigation Office last year, then attorney‑general Elise Archer, to her genuine credit, had given direction at least once to Crown Law that they should not argue whether consent had occurred in claims involving child sexual abuse. That should never have been an argument contested in the first place. The fact that she made that public and the expectation clear was the right response. It set a very important tone for how the state of Tasmania would be acting in further claims of compensation and justice from victim/survivors.
For the benefit of members, I will put some details on the record that were given to us in response to the questions we asked the Attorney-General in the second‑reading debate last year. I asked him questions about staffing. Attorney-General, you advised the House that there will be six staff members transferred from the Solicitor‑General’s office and that the only new appointment is the State Litigator. My understanding from that debate was that the existing civil division of the Office of the Solicitor‑General is being migrated into the new State Litigation Office. At the time of that debate, you advised the House that the workload of the State Litigation Office was in the process of being scoped out, and that you were undertaking consultation with appropriate counterparts in other jurisdictions, as well as looking at the impact of the commission of inquiry’s recommendations on this matter.
Are you able to provide us with an update on this work? I believe Ms White has just asked a similar question.
In response to questions in the previous debate, you also highlighted that the major areas of civil law the Office of the State Litigator expects to be dealing with would be workers compensation claims, abuse in care claims, planning matters involving the state, medical negligence claims, and anti-discrimination and administrative law matters. This is important contextual information for us. It is important for people to understand what the role of the State Litigator will be.
On behalf of the Greens, I support this move. It is critical that we have an adversarial civil litigation system at heart, but in matters of child sexual abuse, workers compensation, anti-discrimination and the other matters I have talked about, that is not an effective way to deal sensitively and compassionately with people who have experienced trauma. People who have been abused as children need to be safe and secure in telling their stories. They need to be believed. They need to be heard and treated respectfully.
We have continued to hear positive feedback about the proposed reforms from victim/survivors and advocates. We would like to hear how it evolves and will be listening out to those communities to see if it stands up to what it is proposing to do, which we certainly hope it does.
On behalf of the Greens, we support this bill.
