Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

On the Labour Party amendment, the legislation accepts that the victim's safety and security should be taken into account. The purpose of the amendment is to broaden the scope of this to include victims of other offences and family members. In response to the Minister of State's reason for not accepting the amendment, if he mentions victims of a particular offence as distinct from members of the public, surely he should mention other victims of that particular criminal as distinct from ordinary members of the public. For example, a prisoner could be serving a prison sentence which could immediately relate to a particular offence but he or she might have previously served a sentence for another crime against another individual. Similarly in relation to family members, Senator Terry's amendment indicates that the family is especially affected by the crime as distinct from other members of the public. We believe they should be mentioned specifically together with the general public.