Domestic and Family Violence

Mrs POWER (Elder) (14:12): My question is to the Attorney-General. Can the Attorney-General please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is delivering better services for victims of domestic and family violence?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (14:13): I do so with pleasure, especially in response to the member for Elder, who is also our Assistant Minister for Domestic and Family Violence Prevention. It's an extremely important role, and I commend her for the work she has done to date. This week, we also turn our minds to specifically the issues that we acknowledge on International Women's Day.

Unfortunately, young women are almost five times more likely to experience sexual assault than young men. These statistics are simply shocking. This government, when elected in March 2018, brought to the table a number of initiatives, practical initiatives aimed at providing simple and effective preventative services for victims of domestic and family violence. Of these commitments, I commend the Minister for Human Services, the Hon. Michelle Lensink MLC, and the team of the Office for Women, headed by Ms Fiona Mort, for their extensive work in rolling out what are some of the most comprehensive and focused policies for domestic violence reform in the country.

From the start, this government was active in this area. On 13 April 2018, members might recall that the government launched the first of many round tables with stakeholders. This was less than a month after being elected. A key outcome of those round tables, and seen nationally, was the importance of early intervention and the provision of services for victims. A crucial part of early intervention is providing a potential victim of domestic violence with all the tools and services they need to make an informed decision for themselves and their family.

The Liberal government's Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme started accepting applications on 2 October 2018. The scheme, members might recall, aims to help people who may be at risk of domestic violence to find out if their current or former partner has a history of violence or any other relevant offences. Alarmingly, out of 23 convictions for homicide in 2017-18 in South Australia, 10 were related to domestic violence—a staggering statistic and one we all want to see rapidly decline.

When this service commenced, I maintained that, if it helped even one person become aware of their partner's violent offending, it would be a success. Far beyond that, in the first 14 months of operation, as at the end of last year 316 applications were received. This allowed Women's Safety Services and SAPOL to actively work with potentially at-risk persons to understand that violent offending may have been uncovered and to assist the person to leave the situation if they so wished.

Safety hubs and growing crisis accommodation beds were other key aspects of the government's domestic violence agenda. For regional South Australia, The Haven at Murray Bridge was launched on 5 August last year. This hub services the area and provides targeted information and referrals for women and their children to enable access to the local level of support they need. The second safety hub is located in the Riverland Domestic Violence Service, auspiced by Centacare Catholic Family Services.

The safety hub model includes the consolidation of administration staff, the co-location of a clinical specialist nurse from Country Health Connect and improving outreach joint service visits to clients. Safety hubs are the first government-led hubs in South Australia, with two more rolling out in 2020, and provide a crucial service to our regional areas. The 40 new domestic beds for crisis accommodation—the first eight now opened in North Adelaide—deliver a $4 million government commitment.

Crisis beds will be placed in areas of greatest need, and for our government that means dealing with and providing these services to the regions that are much in need. Clients will receive those services of intensive outreach support. The commitments being delivered by the government in this space are extensive. Providing better services for those who are at risk has been a paramount consideration. It will also include the delivery of a personal protection app 24/7 for the women's crisis hotline, perpetrator information pilots and the continuation of the national implementation plan for the Fourth Action Plan to reduce violence. I commend these initiatives to the house.