Claims for witnesses
A witness can claim financial assistance if they have been psychologically injured by seeing or hearing violence being committed against another person in Queensland.
Who can claim
We define a ‘witness’ as a person who saw or heard an act of violence (including domestic violence) being committed against someone else. A witness can claim financial assistance if they were injured by what they saw or heard.
Unfortunately, we can’t pay financial assistance to witnesses who didn’t see or hear the violence being committed (e.g. the violence happened before you arrived at the scene).
Witnessing domestic violence
A bystander who witnesses domestic violence may apply as a witness. This may include people who:
- overhear threats of physical abuse
- overhear repeated derogatory taunts, including racial taunts
- see or hear an assault.
Primary victims of domestic violence
A person that is the main victim of domestic violence can apply for financial assistance as a primary victim.
Children and other family members, who are living in a home where domestic violence happens, can also apply for financial assistance as a primary victim if – the violence was directed at you, your parent, your caregiver or other family members who live with you.
You might have:
- been physically abused by the offender
- been threatened or coerced by the offender
- been emotionally, psychologically or economically abused by the offender
- had your property deliberately damaged by the offender
- comforted or helped a person who has been physically abused
- observed bruising or other injuries of a person who has been physically abused
- cleaned up a site after property has been damaged
- been present at a domestic violence incident that is attended by police officers
- experienced financial stress arising from economic abuse
- been otherwise restrained, controlled or dominated by the offender in a frightening way, including:
- having to hide from the offender because you were frightened
- fearing for the safety of another person or an animal that the offender was threatening.
Types of expenses
The type of expenses that can be claimed will depend on the seriousness of the violence.
All witnesses can ask us to pay for:
- medical and counselling expenses (including report expenses)
- travel to medical and counselling appointments.
If you witnessed fatal violence, you may be able to claim other expenses. This may include:
How to claim
To claim financial assistance for the first time, you need to:
- report the violence
- complete the application form and attach
If you need to add a new expense to an application you have already submitted, use our online form.
Payment process
If your claim is approved, we will send you a ‘notice of decision’. This notice will list what we have agreed to pay for, who we will be paying and the conditions on the payment. Please don’t tell someone that we will pay for something before you get the notice of decision. The notice of decision will say if we will pay the cost or not.
Once you receive your notice of decision and your claim is approved, electronic payments will be deposited into your nominated bank account within 10 business days.
Common payment conditions
Paid expenses
We must reimburse the person that paid the cost. This may have been you or it may have been a family member, friend, or agency. If someone else paid the cost for you, we need to pay them back. Please provide their name, phone number or email and banking information.
Unpaid expenses
In some cases, the cost hasn’t been paid yet. Please provide an invoice so we can pay the service provider directly. If it is a medical or counselling expense, we must deduct any Medicare and private health rebates first. It is important that the invoice is made out to your name. This is because you received the service or goods. The invoice should not be made out to Victim Assist.
Other conditions (if any) will be noted in your notice of decision.
Timeframe
Due to the high number of claims already queued, it may be many months before we’re able to assess your application and pay approved expenses.
If you have an urgent expense, and meet the conditions for claiming urgent expenses, we may prioritise the assessment of these expenses. If we decide the expenses don’t meet these conditions, we’ll let you know. Non urgent expenses will be queued for general assessment within normal timeframes.
Once you receive your notice of decision and your claim is approved, electronic payments will be deposited into your nominated bank account within 10 business days.