Personal Explanation

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The Hon. R.D. LAWSON (16:54): I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.D. LAWSON: Earlier today, in an explanation to a question, I used words that might have suggested that domestic violence is treated as petty crime. The Minister for the Status of Women was quick to point this out to the chamber. I have now examined the transcript, and it appears that I did not say what I intended to say. I did not intend to convey the meaning that domestic violence was only a petty crime. I should have said not 'domestic violence and other petty criminals' but 'domestic violence and sundry petty criminals'. I do not take the view that domestic violence is a petty crime.