ACT government announces $19 million boost for Director of Public Prosecutions

The ACT government has announced a pre-budget funding boost of nearly $19 million to increase the capacity of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The funding will go towards 24 new, permanent positions within the office, and will help with supporting vulnerable people through the justice process.

ACT Attorney-General Tara Cheyne said the funding is "probably the biggest investment that's been made in the DPP ever".

The DPP, Victoria Engel, said the funding was both "significant" and "necessary".

"The government today have recognised a historical need in the office, and the critical role that my office plays in attempting to secure justice for Canberrans who are processing matters through the criminal justice system," she said.

"Today's announcement means I can give them the necessary support, so they're not shouldering that burden on their own."

Witness assistance service an 'unsung hero': Cheyne

Ms Cheyne said that without the funding, 10 existing temporary roles within the DPP would likely have been discontinued.

Now, those roles will be made permanent — a combination of six prosecutors, and four witness assistance officers.

She said the office will also gain nine more prosecutors, and four more witness assistance officers, including one designated First Nations role.

The additional roles will help prosecutors better identify which cases should proceed through the justice system, while better supporting vulnerable victims and witnesses.

Ms Cheyne said the "unsung hero" of the investment is the increase in witness assistance officers, which was already doubled in the previous budget from three to six.

"That means that prosecutors can focus on the law and the arguments and establishing that burden of proof, while the witness assistance service can be supporting vulnerable people, victims, through the justice process — and for many of them it might be their first time," Ms Cheyne said.

Ms Engel said her office had seen a 171 per cent increase in sexual violence matters coming through the system from five years ago, and a 63 per cent increase in family violence over the same period.

She added that lawyers were not "historically trained in how to communicate with vulnerable witnesses".

"We have done a lot of that over the last two years in the office," she said.

Investment designed to give 'lasting capacity'

In October, Ms Engel told the ABC she might have to start turning away cases if her funding was not increased.

At the time, Ms Engel said she had identified a "10-year funding deficit" affecting the department even as its case load increased, and warned people's access to justice might have to be curtailed if that burden continued.

"What we've been able to do the last few years is to provide the government with the necessary data and to really demonstrate to the government the sustained increase that we've seen over the last decade, but most acutely in the last five years," she said today.

"That has been pivotal in helping the government to understand why this investment is now necessary."

Ms Cheyne praised Ms Engel for voicing her concerns and campaigning for her office, and acknowledged staff had been doing work out of "good will".

"And what we've been doing over the last 12 months really intensively is working through the data that the government has and what her office has, and piecing together what positions are needed to make the biggest difference.

Ms Cheyne said the scale of the investment needed "has become clearer as the workload has grown".

Funding will improve 'prosecutorial decision making'

Ms Engel said her office would use the funding boost to focus on improving efficiency and "early resolution".

"Matters that are being brought into the system by police charging, we'll be able to assess those faster," she said.

She said "targeted early intervention" was being identified across Australia as a higher priority.

"We are looking at that consideration, especially for juvenile accused people who come into contact for the first time in the justice system who are engaging, for example, in restorative justice," she said.

Ms Cheyne said the funding would improve "prosecutorial decision making".

"When they've got the time to assess a brief properly, that means they can identify weak cases earlier and discontinue them," she said.