(1) A victim of an act of violence may apply to the scheme manager for victim
assistance.
(2) If the victim is a child, the application may be made by—
(a) the child’s parent on behalf of the child; or
(b) if the child is at
least 12 years old and is represented by a lawyer, the child; or
(c) someone
else approved by the scheme manager.
(3) For subsection (2) (a) —
(a) if a
person is granted guardianship of a child under a child protection order under
the Child Protection Act 1999—the reference to the child’s parent in the
subsection is taken to be a reference to that person; and
(b) if a person has
the right and responsibility to make decisions about a child’s daily care
under a decision or order of a federal court or a court of a State, other than
a temporary order—the reference to the child’s parent in the subsection is
taken to be a reference to that person; and
(c) subject to paragraphs (a) and
(b) , the reference to the child’s parent in the subsection does not include
an approved carer of the child.
(4) If the victim is an adult with an
impaired capacity, the application may be made by—
(5) If the victim is not a child or an
adult with impaired capacity but requires assistance in making an application
under this chapter, the application may be made by someone else approved by
the scheme manager.
Example—
If a victim can not understand English, the
scheme manager may approve a relative of the victim who can understand English
to make the application on the victim’s behalf.
(6) For this Act, the
victim is still the applicant even though under subsection (2) , (4) or (5) an
application is made by someone else for the victim.
(7) In this section—
"lawyer" means an Australian legal practitioner, or a government legal
officer, within the meaning of the Legal Profession Act 2007.
