ACT Government to Make Important Changes to Domestic Violence Laws

Thursday 2 April 2015 @ 12.01 p.m. | Crime | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure

It is reported that the ACT Government will strengthen laws to make it easier to prosecute domestic violence offenders. The move is said in large part  to be motivated by the fact that two women have been killed in domestic violence situations in the ACT since the start of 2015.

The ACT Attorney-General Mr Simon Corbell (the AG) has proposed major changes as part of efforts to reduce violence in "families at risk" and has foreshadowed the introduction of legislation later this year (2015). The AG is to discuss the reforms today (2 April 2015) at an extraordinary meeting of the ACT's Domestic Violence Prevention Council which will then advise the ACT government before the meeting of the Council of Australian Governments' on family violence set down for the mid 2015.

Program of Reforms on Family Violence

The ACT government is reported as having ". . . already embarked on a program that could see sweeping reforms to family violence legislation in response to recommendations from the Australian Law Reform Commission" - for example, consideration of a new "Victims of Crime Financial Assistance Scheme" is already advanced (see here for details).

What the New legislation Will Cover

The new legislation, according to the AG's media release, is to include strangulation as an offence and will allow prosecutors to use a victims' initial statements to police as evidence, changing the current position where an offender can only be prosecuted for a choking or strangling offence if there was evidence that they tried to render a victim unconscious. Commenting on this, the AG is reported as saying that he also wants to allow a victim's initial statement to police to be permitted as evidence in court:

"Often the victims of domestic violence are threatened or intimidated to withdraw or change the statements that they have initially given to police, . . . At the moment prosecutors are prevented from relying mainly on the evidence that's presented to them [police] when they are called to the scene of a crime. . . . So this would allow police to use those initial statements given by the victim when they attend the scene of the crime to assist with the prosecution."

The AG also indicated that the use of initial statements to police is already in practice for cases involving the sexual assault and/or abuse of children.

The other matter indicated by the AG to be under consideration for change by the ACT Government was a move to permit ACT police to issue domestic violence protection orders without the consent of a court. On this matter the AG said:

"The DPP, Victims of Crime Commissioner and others are certainly recommending that the Territory look at police-issued domestic violence protection orders, . . . The Government recognises that this is a complex issue, and one which could see, if implemented, for the first time, orders issued without the consent of a judge or magistrate. . . . That's a significant threshold issue that has to be considered and the Government has not reached a position on that."

Reaction to the Changes

The move to use victims' initial statements has been praised by the Domestic Violence Prevention Council's chairwoman Marcia Williams, saying:

"When victims hear this, who have been in these situations before, we will hear a loud cheer because one of the things we hear all the time is how difficult it is, . . . Not only to go through the process of making the complaint to police in the first place but then to have to go through separate trials and present that same evidence again."

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