MR BERGER
Chairperson, Section 11 deals with the principles governing the actions of the Commission when dealing with victims, it's specific to victims only.  And as you've said, Chairperson, this isn't a trial and one has to be robust about the cross-examination of a witness.
	She's given evidence at length now, about an incident which probably didn't take more than a couple of minutes and she's been cross-examined over and over again about the hacking of the child and the hacking of herself and the sexual attack on her and injuries, and there comes a time I submit, Chairperson, where compassion must enter the picture and there must be a limit to such cross-examination because if she's going to be treated as a witness in a motor collision case, then she's not being treated anymore with compassion.  	And Chairperson, you speak about other witnesses coming forward, we've indicated in the past the difficulty that we've had to get women who were sexually assaulted, to come forward and Ms Molete is the first woman to volunteer to come forward and talk about her experience, and if she's going to be cross-examined at such length and with such intensity, I'm not saying that there shouldn't be cross-examination, but at such length, it is going to result, if it hasn't already, in the other women not coming forward and then there will be no evidence before this Committee, other than the evidence of Ms Molete.   So in a sense the treatment of Ms Molete will play a role in whether other women are going to come forward and talk about their sexual assaults.  	
	All we're asking Chairperson, we understand that, and we've explained to Ms Molete that she can't refuse to answer questions, but all we're asking is that she be treated with compassion, as the Act requires, and that in our submission she has been cross-examined at length already and has answered all the questions put to her.