Renewed Interest in Family Violence Across Jurisdictions

Tuesday 24 March 2015 @ 12.21 p.m. | Legal Research

In the past few months, the Federal Parliament has been handed its report from the Parliamentary Committee into Domestic Violence. Joining them, the new Queensland Government has been delivered recommendations from their domestic violence taskforce and the new Victorian Government has already announced a Royal Commission into Family Violence. Below are explanations of these initiatives and what is driving the push for a national agenda to tackle family violence.

Federal Parliamentary Inquiry into Domestic Violence

On 26 June 2014, the Domestic Violence in Australia was referred to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee for inquiry and report by the 27 October 2014.

The terms of reference included:

the prevalence and impact of domestic violence in Australia as it affects all Australians and, in particular, as it affects:

women living with a disability; and
women from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds;

the factors contributing to the present levels of domestic violence;
the adequacy of policy and community responses to domestic violence;
the effects of policy decisions regarding housing, legal services, and women‘s economic independence on the ability of women to escape domestic violence;
how the Federal Government can best support, contribute to and drive the social, cultural and behavioural shifts required to eliminate violence against women and their children; and
any other related matters.

The committee process has been tasked with exploring the adequacy of policy responses and the effects of policy settings regarding housing, legal services and women’s economic independence on their ability to escape violence.

Submissions closed on 31 July 2014. The reporting date of 27 October 2014 was extended by the Senate on 26 August 2014 until 2 March 2015. On 2 March 2015, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 18 June 2015.

Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland

On 28 February 2015 the Premier announced the release of the Taskforce’s report and recommendations into domestic and family violence in Queensland, ‘Not Now, Not Ever’ – Putting an End to Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland.

The Honourable Quentin Bryce AD CVO, chair of the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence, delivered 140 recommendations in the report and the Premier said her government has made a commitment to consider all the recommendations made by the taskforce.

The overwhelming message from the report is that domestic and family violence is everyone's responsibility, leading to the recommendations establishing a prevention strategy for Queensland and a framework for change. This included emphasis on:

Culture and attitudes;
Service responses; and
Functions of the legal and justice system.

As the Conversation states:

"The easy – and somewhat lazy – call for a tough, “law and order” approach is not the answer. While imprisonment is an important recourse for some of the most violent offenders, we cannot rely on this as the only option, particularly when custody tends to cement damaging attitudes and behaviour...Instead we need to make a sustained economic commitment to interventions that will, ultimately, place less demand on the broader system overall. We know enough about the current costs of family violence to understand that we cannot simply continue down the same path and expect change."

Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence

On 23 February 2015, the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence began its work with the Premier Daniel Andrews having promised to implement all recommendations made by Australia’s first Royal Commission into Family Violence, vowing “nothing is off limits”.

The Commission, led by the Hon. Marcia Neave AO and supported by Deputy Commissioners Ms Patricia Faulkner AO and Mr Tony Nicholson, is tasked with making recommendations that will influence generational change to prevent and respond to family violence.

The royal commission was established following several high-profile family violence incidents. This included the murder of 11-year-old Luke Batty by his father in February 2014. The Batty case encouraged a long-overdue statewide conversation about the extent of family violence in our community.

The terms of reference are all-encompassing. These direct the royal commission to:

Examine and evaluate strategies, frameworks, policies, programs and services across government and local government, media, business and community organisations;
Investigate the means of having systematic responses to family violence, particularly in the legal system and by police, corrections, child protection, legal and family violence support services, including reducing re-offending and changing violence and controlling behaviours;
Investigate how government agencies and community organisations can better integrate and co-ordinate their efforts; and
Provide recommendations on how best to evaluate and measure the success of strategies, frameworks, policies, programs and services put in place to stop family violence.

Within these broad terms of reference, Neave has said the commission’s primary focus is to improve the system. In this respect, this royal commission differs from the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse. That inquiry is largely focused on victims and providing a forum for victims to present their experiences.

The Premier said:

“We have to … get to the cores of this, intervene early, prevent family violence and make sure that we protect the vulnerable and more effectively punish those who are guilty of this crime...Family violence is the number one law and order issue in our state. (It’s) the number one cause of death and disability among women under the age of 45 across our nation. If we settle for more of the same policy, then inevitably we will see more of the same tragedy.”

The closing date for submissions is 29 May 2015 and the Royal Commission's Report is due on 29 February 2016.

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