Liberty Victoria recognizes the significant value of committal proceedings and the role they play in ensuring adequate disclosure, promoting the early resolution of cases before the courts, minimizing impact on vulnerable witnesses and ultimately easing pressures on the criminal justice system. Such proceedings enable an accused person to be apprised of the case against them and assess the strength of the evidence, but also give the prosecutor an opportunity to properly evaluate the case that has been assembled.
In relation to the specific proposal by the Supreme Court of Victoria referred to in the VLRC issues paper, we have previously made a submission that can be found here.
We have also had the opportunity to read the submission provided by the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights. We endorse their submission and recommend it to the VLRC.