Aboriginal Domestic Violence

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:34): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about domestic and family violence in our Aboriginal population.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.T. NGO: Domestic violence knows no boundaries. It occurs across all ages, classes, cultures and locations. Nevertheless, we know that there are some demographics where a higher level of domestic violence occurs and these require a special response. My question is: can the minister tell the house about the National Domestic and Aboriginal Family Violence Conference which was held in Adelaide recently?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:34): I thank the honourable member for his important question. This government has made a very public commitment to addressing domestic violence and has introduced a wide range of initiatives which aim at reducing its incidence at all levels. It was a great pleasure to open the second day of the National Domestic and Aboriginal Family Violence Conference last week.

The conference was organised by Kornar Winmil Yunti, which is a non-profit organisation that supports Aboriginal men from around Australia. I would like to thank them for putting together the conference and defining the conference to explicitly look for new and innovative ways to respond to domestic violence. The conference had a really impressive line-up of speakers, including Rosie Batty, Arman Abrahimzadeh from the Zahra Foundation, police commissioner Grant Stevens, and many others. Conferences such as these are a brilliant approach to sharing knowledge and experience with programs that have had good results, what people are doing differently and also how to tackle initiatives that are meeting resistance. Sharing and collaborating in this area is how we are going to make the best inroads into what is an extremely serious national issue.

In the case of domestic and Aboriginal family violence, solutions are needed that are not only culturally sensitive but also consider the problems of accessing services, particularly in remote and regional communities. Possible initiatives and information that were discussed at the conference will be considered by the state government in order to improve and complement our existing responses to domestic violence. Of course, it's not only sharing the positive things, the things that are working; it's also an opportunity for people to share where things have not gone so well, and we can learn a great deal from that as well.

This government has a proven record of taking action to address the alarming incidents of domestic violence we see occurring today. In October last year, the Premier released Taking a Stand which is a whole-of-government response to the State Coroner's findings in relation to the very tragic murder of Zahra Abrahimzadeh. The most important underlying feature of Taking a Stand is that it clearly states that the community attitudes that underpin violence against women must change. I am very proud of the initiatives that are being rolled out and have been rolled out as part of that policy.

Our Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service will enable women to be supported and provided with advocacy services as they navigate the court system. The domestic violence response review will increase accountability in responses to incidents of domestic violence when they are inadequate. I have introduced legislation, as people are aware, to change residential tenancy laws in order to improve protections for victims of domestic violence.

Our Multiagency Protection System (MAPS) streamlines the referral and notification processes of key agencies and enables them to assess, analyse and respond to domestic violence issues in a more timely and coordinated way. Other jurisdictions are looking to South Australia as a leader in the area of domestic and family violence because of initiatives like these. There is still obviously much to be done in the area of combating domestic violence. However, I am very proud of the innovative initiatives being pursued and implemented by this government in this particular area and building on these, utilising the discussions that occurred at the National Domestic and Aboriginal Family Violence Conference.