Page 1619 - Week 05 - Thursday, 2 June 2022
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Thirdly, the government has agreed to provide an update to the Assembly on the impact of the legislation in two years, noting that this will be focused on any data readily available from criminal justice agencies, as the bill already includes a requirement for a more comprehensive statutory review after three years of the provisions being in effect.
Fourthly, the government has agreed to the recommendation of the standing committee to assess, as part of the review of the legislation after three years, the impact on offender rehabilitation of longer sentences under the aggravated offence scheme. Given the government’s policy of justice reinvestment and reducing recidivism, I look forward to seeing what lessons can be learned to improve community wellbeing and safety.
In addition, the government agrees in principle to two recommendations. Those recommendations are to provide additional investment in family violence programs, alongside culturally appropriate and safe restorative justice processes; and to support the amendment to include technological abuse in the definition of family violence, with training and resourcing, including for police attending family violence matters.
The ACT government is committed to providing a holistic approach to domestic and family violence, including through continued investment in family violence programs, early intervention programs and training for service providers such as police. The ACT government is already developing and delivering a number of policies and programs to improve effective responses to domestic and family violence and invests in these responses, including through the Safer Families levy. Additional resourcing will be subject to particular areas of need and budget processes and priorities.
In closing, I thank the standing committee for conducting the public inquiry into the Family Violence Legislation Amendment Bill and for providing an opportunity for an ongoing discussion about the impacts of domestic and family violence on the Canberra community. I would also like to thank the stakeholders who contributed written submissions and who appeared as witnesses. This engagement and feedback, including from those with lived experience of family violence, and from those who work in frontline services, provides further valuable insights to the government and helps to ensure that our legal framework and overall approach to domestic and family violence is effective.
I present the following papers:
Standing Committee—Justice and Community Safety—Report No 5—Inquiry into Family Violence Legislation Amendment Bill 2022—
Government response.
Ministerial statement, 2 June 2022.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the ministerial statement.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
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