Victim Support Scheme – Have you been a Victim of Violence?

The physical and psychological effects that can flow from being the victim of a crime, especially a violent one, can be really tough and make life much more difficult. This is usually compounded by financial stresses involved with medical treatment, counselling, replacing belongings and other expenses that might stem from being the victim of a crime. Fortunately, there are Victim Support Schemes in place across Australia to provide financial support for victims of crime.

Many of the requirements are the same across different States and Territories. For example, in Queensland, VictimAssist requires the crime to:

Be an act of violence;

Have been committed in QLD;

Have led to physical or psychological injury, or the death of a close family member; and

Have been reported to the police (or in some cases, a doctor or counsellor).

Point 4 is particularly important because the violence needs to be reported to the police, either by you or someone else, for you to be eligible for VictimAssist. However, these requirements differ slightly from state to state and will depend on your circumstances.

Prospective applicants should be aware that processing times for these applications can be up to 2 years. Therefore, it is vital to start this process as soon as possible, especially considering there are time limitations for making such applications.

This entire process is aimed at supporting victims of violence to recover financially, and at Salerno Law, we have helped many people in this situation with the application process, which can be daunting. The weight of dealing with your experience should not be worsened by having to fill out paperwork, so let us help share the load and assist you with this process.

If you believe that you have been a victim of violence and would like to apply for financial support, please reach out to our team, and we will discuss with you whether you are eligible to apply and how we can assist you with this process.

Contact Salerno Law for more information about victim support.
T: +61 (7) 5575 8011 | E: admin@salernolaw.com.au