Susan's* assessment of her self-worth was heartbreakingly simple: "All my life, I felt like a nothing and a nobody."
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After suffering sexual abuse at the hands of her brother continually from age seven to 13 years, her sense of self had been completely destroyed.
"It's a dreadful, insidious crime," she said.
The ramifications of the abuse affected every part of Susan's life for decades.
It wasn't until she was 59 that she finally came forward and told police her story.
"There's a lot of fear involved in coming forward," she said.
Her brother was never charged because the stress of giving evidence was too much for Susan to bear. However, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions believed her and recommended she be given $40,000 under the victims' compensation scheme.
"When I got the payout, I had a whole new lease on life," Susan said.
She described a move to limit the amount of compensation and the time a victim has to apply for it as a bad move by the state government.
"To minimise what happens to people when they're young to the extent the government is looking at is terrible," she said.
"Taking away the right to compensation or lessening the amount is minimising the crime.
"If someone was to give me $15,000 for all the years I suffered, I would tell them where to stick it."
Susan said the bill before Parliament would eliminate the free legal assistance victims received to navigate the system.
"When I was awarded an amount and helped by Legal Aid, it was unbelievable," she said.
"People were there to help me, to support me, to back me."
*Name has been changed.