Page 3328 - Week 09 - Thursday, 22 August 2019
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domestic and family violence in the ACT. The committee’s terms of reference asked the committee to inquire into and report on relevant matters including:
a) the adequacy and effectiveness of current policy approaches and responses in preventing and responding to domestic and family violence in the ACT;
b) the implementation of the ACT Government’s 2016-17 funding commitments to prevent and respond to domestic and family violence in the ACT, and how those outcomes are being measured;
c) the issues and policy challenges (if any) for the ACT arising from the National funding/framework—including how outcomes are measured and reported;
d) best practice policy approaches and responses being undertaken in other jurisdictions to prevent and/or respond to domestic and family violence.
At the commencement of the inquiry the committee invited submissions from the public and wrote to a wide range of persons and organisations, particularly support agencies and organisations which are in daily contact with the confronting and challenging situations generated by domestic and family violence.
As is recognised throughout our community and Australia as a whole, domestic and family violence is a pervasive social problem which affects families and our whole community. DFV confronts all levels of society and must be recognised and confronted with all the resources we can direct at the problem.
The committee received a very comprehensive, detailed and informative response in submissions and evidence taken at the committee’s hearings in 2017 and 2018. These were provided by all levels of ACT government and by policing, legal services, women’s groups, men’s support groups and a number of organisations and individuals involved in domestic violence programs, providing the committee with analysis, comment and proposals for dealing with DFV in the ACT and, increasingly, as part of a national program aimed at recognising and preventing domestic and family violence.
The committee’s report deals with the first two years of the program as part of the safer families budget initiatives and the application of the safer families levy. The committee’s report has not dealt with the 2019-20 budget provisions for safer families. The committee has made 60 recommendations which are directed at all aspects of current policies and programs which are in place and are being developed for combatting domestic and family violence in our community.
I take a moment to thank all the committee staff who worked on this report, including Andrea Cullen, secretary for the first part of the inquiry, Danton Leary, research officer; Lydia Chung, administrative support; and Andrew Snedden, secretary for the latter part of the committee inquiry. I also thank Michael Pettersson, who is the new member of the committee; and Chris Steel, who was on the committee at the time of the inquiry.
I also include some personal remarks at this time. I firstly thank the Assembly for supporting us in conducting this inquiry. During the inquiry we heard the stories of a
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