Terms of Reference Announced For Victorian Royal Commission Into Family Violence
Thursday 22 January 2015 @ 11.18 a.m. | Legal Research
The new Victorian Labor Government have announced the proposed terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Family Violence. The Commission, which was a key election promise, will be chaired by Justice Marcia Neave and is scheduled to begin in February. The Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, has called family violence “a national emergency” in a press release by the Victorian Government that also stated:
The effect of family violence is profound. Family violence is the leading cause of death and disability in Victorian women under 45. Every week in Australia, a woman is killed by her current or former partner. In 2013-14, there were 65,393 family incidents reported to Victoria Police, a rise of 83 per cent since 2009-10. A third of all police work, family violence costs our economy over $3 billion every year.
The Commission’s terms of reference include:
- Examining and evaluating “strategies, frameworks, policies, programs and services” to establish best practice for:
- “the prevention of family violence;
- early intervention to identify and protect those at risk of family violence and prevent the escalation of violence;
- support for victims of family violence and measures to address the impacts on victims, particularly on women and children; and
- perpetrator accountability”
- Investigating systemic responses to family violence, particularly in the justice system
- Determining how government agencies and community organisations “can better integrate and coordinate their efforts”
- Recommending ways to evaluate the success of these changes.
Mr Andrews told ABC News that he hoped any recommendations made by the Commission would hopefully be implemented in the next year, although he realised there would be legislative and budget issues that needed to be dealt with.
ABC News also reported that “victims… will most likely be able to make submissions in several ways, including in writing”, as Mr Andrews noted:
“[t]here are many people who have a story to tell, many people who have a contribution to make who do not want to appear in a court.. They do not, ever again, want to go through what has been a most unsatisfactory and often a very dangerous process for them.”
Libby Davies, the CEO of White Ribbon Australia, welcomed the “comprehensive” terms of reference, but cautioned:
[c]hanging the entrenched attitudes and behaviours that fuel some men's controlling or violent behaviours requires more time, even more than the 10 years that White Ribbon has been working in the area…
Foremost in our minds should be ongoing reform of the system in a way that transcends political cycles to deliver change, rather than the conduct of one resource-intensive inquiry after another.”
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