Member

We would have also liked the amendments to cover the immediate family of victims: parents, siblings and adult children. They should be entitled to receive transcripts, and that is very important when a victim is either sick or disabled, or traumatised, possibly by the offence or otherwise. Those family members should also be entitled to be supplied with a transcript. I note that the Minister referred obliquely to the position of “others”, so that victims would be sure of receiving the transcripts. These are, of course, transcripts of public hearings, but many victims may not themselves have attended those hearings or, given the trauma of the hearings, may have been unable to concentrate while the sentencing remarks were made. Their families should be able to receive transcripts, and I am interested to hear what the Government’s final position on this issue will be.