FAMILY SAFETY FRAMEWORK

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:15): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about the Family Safety Framework in Alice Springs.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS: The minister has spoken in this place before about the importance of the Family Safety Framework. It appears that another jurisdiction has also recognised the significance of this program. Can the minister inform the chamber of recent developments regarding the Family Safety Framework?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:16): I thank the honourable member for his important question. As members are aware, the Family Safety Framework, a key initiative of our government's Women's Safety Strategy, seeks to ensure that services to families most at risk of violence are dealt with in a more structured and systematic way through agencies sharing information about high risk families and taking responsibility for supporting these families to navigate the services available and the system.

The Family Safety Framework includes family safety meetings held at a local level, focused on individual high risk cases and common risk assessment to ensure consistency in the assessment of high risk cases. Initially trialled at Holden Hill, Noarlunga and Port Augusta policing boundaries in 2007, family safety meetings are now being held in 11 regions throughout South Australia on an ongoing basis.

This strategy has been extremely successful. I recall one time in this place—I think it was by way of an interjection from the Hon. Stephen Wade—I was talking about the Family Safety Framework and I remember him scoffing and being quite dismissive of it, saying that it was just a series of meetings and what good was that.

The Hon. S.G. Wade: I would like to see the Hansard of that; I don't remember that.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I did say by way of interjection. The proof has been in the pudding with this, not only—

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Point of order, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Wade has a point of order.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The minister cannot malign me in a way that suggests that she cannot substantiate it. I ask the minister to either withdraw that allegation or substantiate it through Hansard.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Are you suggesting you did not scoff and be dismissive?

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. Wade: I can never recall being dismissive of an initiative to stop violence against women—never.

The Hon. G.E. Gago interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. Wade: I'm sorry. She has to be able to substantiate it. She can't make assertions.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Well, you did.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: You absolutely did in this place, and I called you on it.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister should—

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: She should resume her seat.

The PRESIDENT: No; she should continue with the answer, but the minister should be—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Be able to substantiate the drivel that she's—

The PRESIDENT: Yes, she should be able to substantiate it. I am sure she will substantiate any accusations.

The Hon. S.G. Wade interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Well you never do.

The Hon. S.G. Wade: Either substantiate it or stop making scurrilous allegations.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Thank you, Mr President. I stand by all my comments—

The PRESIDENT: The minister should stick to the relevance of the question.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I will stick to that; thank you for your guidance in these matters.

The Hon. S.G. Wade interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: You concoct rubbish all the time. Mr President, they bring misinformation and incorrect facts and figures into this place all the time. However, I will not be distracted; I will take your advice, Mr President, and will continue to talk about the Family Safety Framework, which is incredibly important. In fact, it has been so successful that the Coroner, in his finding on a very tragic death involving a domestic violence case, made a recommendation to roll out the Family Safety Framework to that particular area, which we have since been able to do. So, even the Coroner has identified how valuable the Family Safety Framework is in addressing the needs of those women who are at high risk of domestic violence.

Following the initial sites where we established the Family Safety Framework in Elizabeth, Port Augusta and Port Pirie back in 2008, in addition, we now have the new family safety meetings occurring in the metropolitan policing areas of Sturt, Adelaide Eastern, Limestone Coast, Berri and Murray Bridge. I am delighted to remind members that this now gives us a complete metropolitan coverage of the Family Safety Framework.

The Family Safety Framework commenced roll-out to the Murray Bridge policing area in December 2011. The first family safety meeting was held in Murray Bridge in late January 2012. I am also pleased to announce that the Family Safety Framework is soon to be implemented in Alice Springs. This will be the first family safety meeting established in another jurisdiction and confirms again the effectiveness of the model in responding to high-risk domestic and family violence.

I am advised that the setting up of a family safety meeting in Alice Springs is part of the Alice Springs Transformation Plan and a joint initiative of the Australian and Northern Territory governments. The South Australian Office for Women is providing support and training to the Northern Territory agencies in rolling out the Family Safety Framework in Alice Springs, and that should occur by about mid-2012.

This collaborative work with the Northern Territory also supports the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children. The national plan sets out a key objective of improving cross-jurisdictional mechanisms to protect women and children. The work we are doing with the Northern Territory agency fosters ongoing partnerships and enables consistency in service provision across jurisdictions.

The Alice Springs-based family safety meeting will also have real benefits to residents of South Australia because many women and their families escaping family violence on the APY lands, I have been advised, travel to Alice Springs to access support and services. So, this means that their situation may well be referred to the family safety meeting in Alice Springs for a multi-agency support plan to be developed.

The Office for Women has met with agency staff from services on the APY lands, in particular the police, the Women's Domestic Violence Service and Community Corrections. Preparation work is also currently underway for the future implementation of the Family Safety Framework on the APY lands.

The Office for Women will continue to take the lead role in this important work, providing training and training materials and working with agencies to provide the best practice possible. I look forward to keeping this place updated on the developments and look forward to continuing to have the support of all members in this place in relation to this very, very important initiative.