ACT Government Releases Response To Family Violence Reports
Thursday 30 June 2016 @ 12.44 p.m. | Crime | Legal Research
The ACT Government has released a response to three recent reports into domestic and family violence. The response includes the appointment of a full time Coordinator-General for Domestic and Family Violence, who will work with service providers and consumers to create a collaborative approach through a ‘Family Safety Hub’, while coordinating legislative and strategic policy advice for the Govenment. The Government has appointed Mr David Matthews to the interim position while recruitment begins.
Attorney-General Simon Corbell said in a media release:
“Family violence is a complex and challenging area of law, policy and service delivery…A fundamental part of the ACT Government’s response is working in partnership with non-government agencies and the community to address family violence. As a government we acknowledge the significant effort of people working in the family violence and child protection service sector every day. Now is the time to build on that commitment with an integrated, collaborative response to keeping families in the ACT safe.”
The Reports
The ACT Government’s response cites three recently released reports:
- The Glanfield Inquiry – Report of the Inquiry: Review into the system level responses to family violence in the ACT, led by Mr Laurie Glanfield AM;
- The Death Review – Review of Domestic and Family Violence Deaths in the ACT, from the Domestic Violence Prevention Council; and
- The Gap Analysis – ACT Domestic Violence Service System Final Gap Analysis Report, from the Community Services Directorate.
The response notes that “there are consistent themes across the reports that shape the next stage of reform”, including leadership and cultural change, prevention and early intervention, information sharing, collaboration and integration, and transparency and accountability.
Funding Commitments
The Government response includes 37 commitments as part of the response. A significant number of these are specific monetary commitments to various agencies, mostly over a four year period. These include $770,000 for training frontline workers, $850,000 for a justice reinvestment trial to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in the criminal justice system, $964,000 for a residential behaviour change program, $1.2 million to the Domestic Violence Crisis Service and the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre, $1.18 million for additional police officers, $1.2 million to Legal Aid ACT and $2.47 million to the Children and Youth Protection Service.
TimeBase has previously written about the ACT’s proposed “Safer Families Levy” which will help fund these changes. The bill for the levy, as well as a bill implementing family violence prevention recommendations from a joint Australian and New South Wales Law Reform Commission report into family violence, are currently being considered by the ACT Parliament.
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