VSS Community Service Announcement

Victim Support Service is a professional advocacy and support agency for crime victims in South Australia. We wish to go on record as standing up against the violence perpetrated by sporting heroes and celebrities which is so prevalent and becoming so commonly reported in the media. There have been a number of instances recently reported, including the disgraceful event admitted to by Matthew Johns.

Frequently committed by men against women (and men as well), often fuelled by drunkenness, violence is always totally irresponsible, aggressive and unacceptable. We fully support the actions by sporting clubs and administrative bodies to take responsible action to punish and stop the behaviour. We are very keen for such bodies to also educate and prevent others from following in the footsteps of their team-mates, and to be proactive in saying ‘no’ to violence generally and specifically that committed against women. We must stop the all too common practice of our community treating these actions as minor ‘indiscretions’  minimising the effect on victims, and continuing the hero worship. In this particular instance we are gravely concerned that some people are expressing totally insensitive and judgemental comments about the victim in this event, which amount to nothing better than ‘blaming the victim’ for what at least on face value appears to be disgraceful sexually violent actions of men emboldened by macho peer group bonding and alcohol.

There is no excuse for the behaviour and we fully support  NWS 9 taking strong action against Mr Johns, and any other so called “celebrity” to publically demonstrate that the station is against such violence and anti-social behaviour. This is not an isolated case, but another example of violence in sport and other aspects of community life, which occurs far too often. There exists an opportunity for NWS 9 to show leadership and participate in social education and to demonstrate the values which most parents would wish to guide the upbringing of our children and the next generation.

Letter to print media editors:

Victim Support Service works closely with thousands of victims of crime who are going through the criminal justice system, including the courts. Sadly, we must report that there is widespread suffering or “re-victimisation” due to significant court delays. There is no easy solution and no one particular cause.

There is no doubt that a lot of money needs to be allocated to improve the system, including new Judges and courtrooms. In addition, there is great opportunity for improved processes to be considered to reduce delays: more use of restorative justice options; less over-booking of courtrooms; introduction of Special Magistrates; more fixed penalty outcomes for some minor offences; review charge bargaining to ensure written “statements of agreed facts” before trial to reduce trial time; earlier pleas; less delays from lack of readiness to proceed by both prosecution and defence counsel; less tolerance by Judicial Officers of lack of readiness; and time limits for key stages. There are others.

While child abuse cases do need to be dealt with quickly, other victims’ suffering through delays should not be prolonged either. If we are going to be tough on law and order without being tough on victims, these issues need to be addressed.

Yours sincerely

Victim Support Service Inc

Michael Dawson

Chief Executive