Queensland victims still fighting for fair treatment as complaints mount

Queensland victims are submitting an average of two complaints per day concerning fair treatment, according to commissioner Beck O’Connor.

Queensland Victims Commissioner Beck O’Connor. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Queensland victims are submitting an average of two complaints per day concerning fair treatment, according to commissioner Beck O’Connor.

Speaking to The Sunday Mail as she approaches the end of her first year in the job, the state’s first appointed victims’ commissioner said her office had received more than 750 submissions from almost 500 victims across Queensland.

“In fact, we’re now seeing more complaints in a single month than some other jurisdictions receive in a year. That speaks to two things: unmet need, and a growing awareness that victims have rights – and a place to turn when those rights are overlooked,” she said.

“Far too often, they’ve [victims] had to become their own advocates, explaining their trauma over and over, chasing updates and pushing basic fairness.”

Ms O’Connor said the biggest challenge she had faced was that “systemic change is slow” and the justice system was “still entrenched in old ways of thinking.”

“My role is about helping shift the system from what’s convenient to what’s right,” she said.

Ms O’Connor’s position was established in July last year for a five-year term. She succeeded the interim victims commissioner, former detective Jon Rouse.

“I stepped into the role just under a year ago, knowing that most people – including many who work with victims – had limited awareness of victims’ rights in Queensland,” she said.

Her appointment was a recommendation from the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce, aligning Queensland with other states.

Ms O’Connor has been a longstanding advocate for victims across various sectors, including health, mental health, child protection, and social and disability support.

Before assuming the role she was the chief executive officer of DVConnect/Victim Connect, as well as co-chair of the independent Ministerial Advisory Council, deputy managing director of the LGBTQ Domestic Violence Awareness Foundation and a founding member of the National Lived Experience Advisory Council for the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission.

Ms O’Connor said she had already engaged with more than 250 victim survivors, frontline workers, legal professionals and community leaders and agencies.

“Victims, their families and frontline workers need to feel safe, heard, and respected if we’re going to drive real change,” she said.

“I’ve worked to bring a victim’s lens to proposed laws and reforms. That means being in the room when reform is being considered — but it also means building trust with people on the ground.”

Ms O’Connor praised the appointment of the first Sexual Violence Review Board by the Crisafulli government.

“I’m proud that in just under a year, we’ve gone from victims’ rights being barely understood to them becoming a priority,” she said.

“That means listening to victims, holding systems to account, and making sure reforms actually make a difference in people’s lives.”

She said, over the next four years, she wanted to see “real change that victims can feel” and said the LNP had made a clear commitment to “putting victims at the heart of justice.”

“We’re not short on evidence. Inquiries, inquests, commissions and reviews – spanning everything from sexual violence to homicide, domestic violence, institutional abuse, policing, financial assistance and victim support – have repeatedly exposed the same issues,” she said.

“The gaps in how victims are treated are well known. The challenge now isn’t diagnosing the problem, it’s delivering change and making sure that change lasts.

“A key priority for me is ensuring that a wider range of victim-survivor voices are heard, especially those who are more vulnerable to victimisation and less likely to be heard in formal policy conversations.”

She said this included those who faced additional barriers, such as children, First Nations people, people with disability, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Originally published as Queensland victims still fighting for fair treatment as complaints mount