Activists Gather for Snap Rally to Oppose Changes to Victims Support Services

Ellie Stephenson reports.

Around 30 activists gathered outside the NSW Parliament at 5:30pm yesterday to protest changes to the Victims Support Scheme. The changes, which came into force yesterday, require victims of crimes, including domestic and sexual violence, to gather their own evidence when seeking compensation or counselling. The changes were announced as a measure to simplify that process, which has previously involved the state gathering records to support victims’ claims.

The rally was organised by the University of Sydney Women’s Collective and chaired by Women’s Officer Ellie Wilson. It called for a reversal to the changes and argued that they would create a barrier to accessing support for vulnerable survivors of violence.  The action saw three people chain themselves to the front fence of Parliament House along with chants of ‘What do we want? Survivor support’, ‘Cutback? fight back’, and ‘When survivor support is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back’. 

Wilson opened the rally by acknowledging that it was occuring on unceded First Nations land, noting that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will be disproportionately affected by the changes. She pointed to a number of harmful implications of the policy, including forcing children and people experiencing domestic abuse to gather evidence where it could be impossible or dangerous to do so. This is particularly concerning given the changes have taken place during “COVID-19 conditions, with levels of domestic violence increasing”. 

Next, Alysha, a survivor of sexual assault, spoke about her experiences seeking support. In a moving speech, which was her first time speaking publicly about her assaults, she said “I never made a police report or sought medical help, in the first instance, because those services were weaponised against me, and in the second, because I was dealing with memory loss and self-blame.” When she approached Victims Services, she could not afford counselling and found it difficult to apply to receive help. 

Reflecting on the process of seeking and eventually receiving counselling, Alysha told listeners, “four years after seeking help... I’m doing so much better, but if getting past that first barrier had been much harder than it already was, I might never have gotten help and I might never have made it here.” She noted that these changes were especially problematic for people with complex trauma.

“Making it harder for victims to access support will kill people”, she added. 

Kimberley Dibben, one of the USyd SRC’s Sexual Harrassment Officers, linked the rally to the issue of sexual violence on campus, saying “bureaucracy and profit are being put before survivor support” both by universities and the government. She argued that “prisons and policing do not serve survivors, who are often not believed” and instead advocated “tangible emotional and medical support of survivors”. 

Jazz Breen, the SRC Education Officer, said that “to attack the ability of survivors to access help at a time when domestic violence has skyrocketed… is honestly nothing surprising from an evil, profit-driven government”. She argued that the changes were acting as cost-saving measures and would turn people away from seeking help, especially if they do not speak English, lack computer access or do not want to relive traumatic experiences. 

“As a social work student, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life unable to help anyone because the systems in place do more harm than good”, Breen said, demanding “a world that works for our communities”.