Statutes Amendment (Intervention Orders and Penalties) Bill

Introduction and First Reading

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (11:08): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 and the Sentencing Act 2017. Read a first time.

Second Reading

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (11:09): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This is a bill that is absolutely focused on dealing with those who perpetrate domestic violence and breach the intervention orders that are in place to stop them from perpetrating the violence that wreaks fear, physical, mental and emotional harm and, tragically, in some cases death. It is a bill all about prevention and keeping South Australian women safe.

Our community has been horrified by the recent murders of women by partners or former partners. As a nation, we were deeply shocked when Hannah Clarke and her three beautiful children were brutally murdered in Queensland. Our community was utterly saddened and rightly angry. Together we mourned and together we called for change.

Just a few weeks ago, in our southern community, across South Australia and again across our nation, we were devastated and utterly saddened when a woman was violently killed in her unit in Morphett Vale, leaving her children to grieve their beautiful mother and her lovely family and network of friends absolutely bereft. May she rest in peace. I offer my condolences and love to her children, who will never again be held in their mother's arms, and to her whole family and her friends as they contemplate their loss and this horror in the weeks months and years ahead.

I also offer my support to those workers in domestic violence services and the many advocates who work day in and day out to keep women safe and to empower them towards a safer future. They make such a difference in women's lives and I know how hard such a tragedy is for them too. This murder left our whole community shaken, saddened and troubled to its core about how much we still have to do to ensure that not one more woman is again killed or harmed by a partner or former partner.

Individuals and organisations around our country have called for change. In my own community and in others we have vowed to work even harder to secure the prevention services we need to empower our community to speak up and out about domestic violence, to act when it happens and to have the best possible measures in place to prevent and end this awful prevalence.

Our community has had enough. It is united in wanting an end to this unacceptable violence towards women and children that sees more than one woman killed every week in this country by a partner or former partner and an end to any victim blaming, to any softening of these appalling, inhuman acts of violence. Our community is united in wanting men to get the message that disrespect and violence towards women is unacceptable, that there is no excuse and that violence is never an option.

Our community is united in wanting an end to the gender inequality that lies at the core of that disrespect and violence. Every person, every leader must play their role in ending disrespect for women and in preventing and eradicating violence—and that must include us. Every member in this place, every member of parliament has a unique opportunity to act however they can using their sphere of influence to prevent and end domestic violence. This bill gives all of us in this place a clear opportunity to use the power given to us by the South Australian people to take another step towards preventing and ending domestic violence, towards a different future.

The people of South Australia do want a safer, violence-free future, a future where women are not disrespected, where women and children are safe and where those who ignore intervention orders that have put in place to protect someone are tightly held to account. This bill sends a clear message to those who intend to breach intervention orders that should they do so they can no longer simply ignore a fine and continue to flout that order but, rather, they will be severely penalised.

Almost a quarter of men who killed a partner or former partner were named as respondents on intervention orders at the time of the killing. I understand from the Women's Legal Service that police have issued 2,188 interim intervention orders relating to domestic violence this year and more than 1,680 of them have been breached. This bill will change and significantly toughen sentencing options for offenders who breach domestic violence intervention orders, by moving away from fines to custodial sentences.

It will remove fines, increase maximum sentences and introduce measures to protect children by aggravating offences that involve children or threatening to restrict access to them. Specifically, the bill will increase penalties for an initial breach of an intervention order from a $10,000 fine or maximum two years' imprisonment to two to five years' imprisonment, seven if aggravated. Subsequent breaches, which currently attract a fine or four years' imprisonment, will increase from four to 10 years' imprisonment, 12 if aggravated.

These are unashamedly tough new measures to deal with offenders who repeatedly breach domestic violence intervention orders and pose a real threat to the safety and lives of women and children. These amendments are desperately needed to deal with the ongoing and shocking prevalence of domestic violence in our community because of the utterly unacceptable statistics that relentlessly and shamefully persist in this country. Domestic violence services, women's organisations and our wider community are demanding change to keep women and children safe from repeat offenders, and this bill will deliver overdue reform.

Unfortunately, monetary fines are simply not deterring some violent repeat offenders who pose a real risk to the safety of women and children. Fines as a punishment for contravention of intervention orders have a higher rate of not being paid than other court-imposed fines, with offenders escaping consequences, accountability and punishment for their offending behaviour. Fines do not provide protection for those who experience domestic violence, nor do they provide for rehabilitation and monitoring opportunities for offenders. By moving to sentences, even should they be suspended, we will be better able to monitor serious repeat offenders and ensure they are engaging with rehabilitation programs and complying with orders.

Zita Ngor, Chief Executive Officer of the Women's Legal Service, says in today's Advertiser that domestic violence survivors often feel their safety is not taken into account when fines are imposed. She said:

We have never dealt with a situation where somebody has had to pay more than a few hundred [dollars] in terms of a monetary fine. For victims or survivors not to feel supported by this system, in turn, does mean they are less likely to seek out support from the very system that is meant to protect them.

History shows that those who contravene intervention orders are more likely to violently offend. This is why custodial sentences must be available to the courts in order to stop offenders repeatedly breaching orders.

As I have discussed, charges will be aggravated if the offending behaviour occurs in the presence of children. The lasting trauma wrought on children caught up in domestic violence must be recognised and steps must be taken to better protect them. This bill gives us an opportunity to ensure that South Australian children no longer have to confront the fear, the shame and the lasting negative impact that witnessing domestic violence as a child can have on them for the rest of their lives.

The message is simply not getting through to some people that it is never okay to assault women and children. These new measures send an abundantly clear message that if you breach an intervention order you are likely to face a custodial sentence. These changes are significant, they are long overdue and they are absolutely necessary to prevent violence against women and children. They recognise the severity of the crime and the stiffening of community attitudes towards domestic violence.

Keeping women and children safe from repeat offenders of course requires a multifaceted approach. It requires money to be poured into prevention and for specialist prevention services and supports to be coordinated and collaborative—resources for prevention that have not been forthcoming from this government. This bill is an important part of any approach. If supported, the reform that we can achieve together through the passing of this bill will play a significant role in better protecting women and children from the horror of domestic violence.

In closing, I thank Zita Ngor, whom I mentioned earlier, for her leadership and enduring commitment to achieving justice for women experiencing domestic violence in this state. Zita is a strong voice for change in this state and her advice and support have been invaluable. I thank the Zonta Club of Noarlunga Southern Vales and the Southern Domestic Violence Action Group for their ongoing support for women experiencing domestic violence in the south, for their fierce campaigning for prevention and for their wisdom and support that I rely on and am always grateful for.

Again, I thank the incredible workers in domestic violence organisations: leaders like Maria Hagias at Women's Safety Services and the many advocates in women's organisations across our state, whose voices for women's safety are strong, unwavering and relentless. I also sincerely thank parliamentary counsel for their diligence, professionalism and hard work in dealing with this bill.

Finally, I urge every member in this place when considering their support or otherwise for this bill to reflect on speeches they have made in this place and anywhere else about doing what we can to prevent and end domestic violence. This is an opportunity to turn words into real and meaningful action. I wholeheartedly urge every member to support it.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Pederick.