Page 2591 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 11 August 2015
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It is important to note that a number of my ministerial colleagues, as well as other members of this place, attended this important meeting. The report, which I received on 16 April, includes 33 recommendations about the safety and security of victims of domestic and family violence, including sexual assault, in the ACT. It also provides an important insight into the current state of domestic and family violence responses and valuable information about how we can all continue to work towards greater levels of prevention.
Key findings outlined in the report were that eight areas warrant priority attention and action, including cultural change, integrated service delivery systems, evidence-based perpetrator interventions, and the provision of ongoing long-term supports. Importantly, the DVPC recognised that many domestic and family violence related issues are complex, and some may be contentious. This means that many identified issues will require more detailed conversations in a range of fora, and meaningful progress will take time and sustained effort.
I take this opportunity to thank the Domestic Violence Prevention Council for its work in organising the meeting and preparing the report. I would also like to express the government’s appreciation for the active engagement of community agencies in the delivery of services to victims and perpetrators in the ACT, and for the engagement of people with lived experience, front-line workers, community experts and government officials in the extraordinary meeting and in previous consultations.
In particular, I want to thank the women with lived experience of domestic and family violence, including sexual assault, who attended the extraordinary meeting. Their contributions gave all attendees a reminder about the acute importance and urgency of the task at hand. I have to say that personally I found their stories the most compelling.
The government welcomes the DVPC’s recommendations and acknowledges that effective responses to this type of violence require a whole-of-government response and widespread community engagement. Everyone in the community plays a role in addressing this violence by speaking out and working towards a culture that is safe, respectful and just for all.
The government intends to use the recommendations as the basis for change and continued improvement. A number of other sources of information will also assist the government to develop and improve responses to domestic and family violence, including sexual assault. Some of the responses were outlined in the ACT government budget, which included a statement on domestic violence and a paper on social inclusion and equality which highlighted the ways in which the government is working to counter violence against women and children.
For example, the government is progressing a number of legislative amendments which will strengthen responses to victims of domestic and family violence, and raise community awareness of domestic and family violence. The amendments, which I propose to introduce in the Assembly in September, include creating an additional offence of strangulation, allowing police records of interview to be admitted as evidence-in-chief for family violence and all sexual offences, expanding the special measures provisions to allow them to apply to breaches of domestic violence orders and other select offences, and creating a new class of interim domestic violence order.
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