Victim Support Service founded in 1979 in South Australia as Victims of Crime Service – first for Australia, world fourth
Members of the South Australia's Victim Support Service team for its staying-home-staying-safe programme, at the service's 40th anniversary celebration in 2019. The service was originally called the Victims of Crime Service (VOCS).
Image courtesy Victim Support Service
South Australia’s Victim Support Service marked helping thousands of victims of crime in South Australia for 40 years in October 2019.
The service had its origins in a gathering in October 1979 of South Australian parents struggling to cope with the senseless murder of their loved ones. Their push, to improve outcomes for victims of crime, attracted the interest of former Queensland police commissioner Ray Whitrod. The result was the Victims of Crime Service (VOCS) – the first in Australia and the fourth in the world.
The Victims of Crime Service was embraced by both major South Australia political parties with Liberal state government attorney general Trevor Griffin appointing Whitrod as the victim advocate for the inquiry on victims of crime – another first for our state and the world. Griffin gave VOCS a one-off funding and Whitrod sought no more, it would undermine VOCS independence. By the mid 1980s, VOCS (initially led by Harold Weir and later Andrew Paterson, a former Crisis Care worker) shifted from a fledgling volunteer group to a professional one.
In the mid 1980s, Labor state government attorney general Chris Sumner created an Australia-first victims of crime fund to assist victims. Sumner began annual funding of VOCS under successive Labor and Liberal governments. Sumner also introduced the declaration on victims' rights. Leading VOCS, Andrew Paterson understood the challenge of working within the realities of the criminal justice system, as did his staff including Katrina Dee and John Oliphant. Paterson supported Lyn Nitschke when she founded the homicide victim support group.
Michael Dawson, who took over as VOCS chief executive, successfully lobbied Trevor Griffin, as Liberal attorney general again, for funds to expand VOCS’s work in regional South Australia. In turn, Labor attorney general Michael Atkinson approved the regional services being expanded from the Victims of Crime Fund as Chris Sumner intended. He also funded a dedicated homicide worker attached to the Victim Support Service – the new name adopted by VOCS.
Others, including Tony Waters and Julian Roffe, followed Michael Dawson, and David Kerr who, like Andrew Paterson, had worked at Crisis Care, was a constant figure offering comfort to and advocacy for victims of crime. The Victim Support Service helped helped many thousands of people deal with the effects of crime, no matter where that crime happened. It walked with victims navigating the daunting criminal justice process, providing counselling and advocacy. It helped train police, prosecutors and correctional officers, educate judges, and accompanied victims to court. Victims were helped to write impact statements. As experts, the Victim Support Service made submissions to royal commissions and parliamentary inquiries.
The Victims Support Service’s work was disrupted in 2020 when Liberal attorney general Vicki Chapman announced that the state government was transferring its victim counselling to Relationship South Australia to save $1.2 million over a three-year $2.3 million contract.