Domestic Violence

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:29): I appreciate the minister's response. However, the statistics he has provided are already available on the public record. Can he advise whether there are other domestic violence offences statistics that are being kept and how and why the reporting of this data differs from data provided publicly through OCSAR?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:30): Again, I thank the honourable member for her supplementary question. Clearly, it would be a reasonable thing to say that SAPOL collates a whole range of different statistics on a range of different areas, and they vary in terms of their depth and analysis. We want to make sure, as I referred to earlier in the week, that whenever we release information publicly it is done in a way that we can ensure accuracy, and that sometimes takes analysis work to be able to do that. Collating statistics is not always an easy science; it does take work, and before we go about releasing stats publicly this government will always be making sure we have a commitment to accuracy. This is not about seeking to circumvent an effort around transparency, not at all, but we have to make sure that we go through a process to ensure accuracy and make sure that we are only releasing statistics that are appropriate to do so.