8Implementation of Charter

8 Implementation of Charter

8 Implementation of Charter

(1) The Charter must, as far as practicable and appropriate, govern the treatment of victims in the administration of the affairs of the State.

(2) An agency or person exercising official functions in the administration of the affairs of the State, other than judicial functions, must, to the extent it is relevant and practicable, have regard to the Charter in addition to other relevant matters.

(3) Despite subsection (2), the Charter, section 6.8 does not apply to a victims rights agency when disclosing, to the extent reasonably necessary, a victim’s contact information to another victims rights agency to allow that victims rights agency to inform the victim about services, support or assistance available to the victim, including about the victim’s eligibility to be recorded or included in a relevant victims register.

(4) The Commissioner may make recommendations to the Minister about changes to the Charter, including the following, after conducting research, consultation with victims of crime and consideration of systemic evidence about matters that impact on victims of crime—

(a) the addition of new rights to the Charter,

(b) the expansion of existing rights set out in the Charter,

(c) means of strengthening the enforceability of rights set out in the Charter.

(5) In this section—

administration of the affairs of the State includes the following—

(a) the administration of justice,

(b) the provision of police services,

(c) the administration of a department of the Government,

(d) the provision of services to victims of crime by a person or non-government agency funded by the State to provide the services,

(e) the administration of matters relating to forensic patients and victims of forensic patients.