Statutes Amendment (Domestic Violence) Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 27 November 2018.)

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (12:36): I rise today to indicate that Labor is supporting this bill unamended. I rise to speak on what is a difficult topic. Domestic violence is not easy to talk about, but that is exactly how it often exerts its power. Domestic violence does not target just one kind of person or thrive in only one place; anyone can find themselves struggling with it. Predators often exert their power by making their victims feel like they are alone and that nobody cares that that is what is happening to them. That is why it is important that all Australians stand up to speak out against domestic violence and do anything within their power to show those around them that this criminal behaviour is not acceptable. Domestic violence, simply, costs people's lives and ruins people's lives.

As I said, it is not any one place or any one group of people who suffer from domestic violence. In some areas of Australia—in remote and regional areas—it can be even more acute, where there is more difficulty accessing services. When I was growing up, my mother spent 20 years as a social worker and administrator at the Mount Gambier women's shelter, and I have very distinct memories of angry men fronting up at our place demanding to know where their wives were so they could find them and continue the sort of violence they had perpetrated on them.

I pay tribute to all those who have worked in domestic violence and have kept women and occasionally men—but for the most part women—safe and have turned lives around that have otherwise been ruined by domestic violence. Unfortunately, we still have a long, long way to go. Historically the law has not been particularly well suited to help victims of domestic violence. It is one thing to take a stranger who assaulted you at the pub to court, but when you are hurt by the person who is meant to be your strongest ally in this world, it is often a very different and difficult situation. It is a difficult problem, but it is one Labor and, I know, all of us in this chamber are committed to helping with.

In 2016, the Labor government released a discussion paper on domestic violence designed to gather some more information on what we could do best to further support victims. It is this paper which formed the backbone of this legislation. After the draft was written the new Liberal government sought consultation for four weeks and amended the bill based on that feedback. In addition, many of the sections in this bill are based on similar legislation which has been passed in New South Wales and Queensland.

First of all, this legislation creates a new offence of choking, suffocating or strangling a person within the context of a relationship. Although some of these cases may fall under already existing assault laws, this change was recommended by advocacy groups due to the fact that strangling is common within abusive relationships and that the current law may not fully recognise the seriousness and dangerousness of the act. The bill also provides for a presumption against bail for persons taken into custody for this new offence. All of this was previously passed in Queensland where there have already been a number of charges based on this offence, as I understand.

The next change allows for recordings made by police officers of victims making statements to be used as evidence. Of course, there are strict requirements that will need to be met for those to be admissible, but it is abundantly clear that one of the greatest barriers to convictions for domestic violence offences, and certainly one of the hardest parts for victims, is the difficulty of testifying against an abuser. This change will reduce the pressure on victims to tell their story in court, allowing them to provide information at a time and place where they can feel safe. This section is also modelled on similar legislation from New South Wales where it has been widely supported.

The bill also expands the definition of domestic violence to include a number of new potential justifications for an intervention order to be issued. This includes forced marriage, threatening to distribute invasive images without consent and preventing a person from entering that person's own primary place of residence. The bill will also allow courts to make interim variations to a final order on the application of a police officer and in the absence of the defendant. At the moment, doing so requires the Commissioner of Police, the defendant and every person protected by the order to be given the opportunity to speak, greatly slowing down the process.

This bill will also allow the Youth Court to declare that a domestic violence order made in any jurisdiction becomes a recognised order in that jurisdiction. Currently, only the Magistrates Court can do that. Finally, the bill introduces higher penalties for a number of serious breaches. A $2,000 fine is added to the penalty for breach of a term of an intervention order, and the maximum penalty is raised for a second or subsequent breach, or a breach which involved physical violence or the threat of it. It is only common sense that a more serious offence should carry a higher penalty, so this should ensure that the law stays in line with community expectations.

It is vital that as a parliament and as a society we do not remain silent on domestic violence. However, it is just as important to ensure that we in this place make things better for victims and their families. Since its inception this bill has centred the voices and experiences of victims, granting them the opportunity to frame the conversation and tell us how we can help them. That is exactly what we are doing right now. For these reasons, Labor supports this bill and looks forward to its speedy passage today.

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (12:42): I rise today to speak about the Statutes Amendment (Domestic Violence) Bill. I recently stood here in this place to speak about the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and I shall rise again today to reiterate the importance of eradicating domestic violence.

Home is a place that most of us return to after a long day at work. We usually spend our weekends at home with our children or loved ones. We welcome the comfort that this space brings us and, for most of us, it is deemed a safe space, a sanctuary. However, this cannot be said for every member of our community. Many women and children and, yes, men, live in fear of having to return home or even being able to leave home, restricted and in fear of the ones who should be closest to them.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has identified in its report on Recorded Crime-Victims Australia 2017, that 126 homicide-related offences were attributed to domestic violence in 2017. Of these, 75 cases resulted in death, and 72 found women as the victims. In South Australia alone, the police have handled over 10,000 domestic violence-related offences in the last financial year. This equates to roughly 210 cases a week or 30 a day.

Domestic violence is a destructive use of power and control, which impacts our families and our communities and can displace many women and children. It is abhorrent behaviour and should be an issue that everyone in this place works collaboratively towards addressing. My Labor colleagues and I are aware of this and recognise the previous Labor government's proud history of working towards the eradication of domestic violence.

This included the reformation of intervention orders in 2009, the release of the Taking a Stand: Responding to Domestic Violence paper, and the release of the Domestic Violence Discussion Paper in 2016. I note that much of the content in this bill are legislative reforms, as identified in the discussion paper. I thank the Attorney-General for continuing the measures identified in her legislation.

The bill seeks to impose harsher penalties and lessen the leniency given to those who intend to harm or victimise persons in the domestic sphere of life. Included in the amendments are the new penalties for strangulation, choking and suffocation, reflecting those already in effect in Queensland. Strangulation is often used as a predictive risk factor for future severe domestic violence and for homicide, as research has shown, and that it is a high-risk factor that can quite often lead to continued, heightened domestic violence, culminating in death. This is an important change as it recognises that such behaviour is not only predictable but dangerous.

The bill also broadens the concept of an aggravated offence to recognise that domestic relationships also vary. It has been widened to include siblings, grandchildren, persons related according to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island kinship rules and any other culturally recognised family group. It shows that we, as the policymakers of the state, understand that domestic violence is more than just a tiff between a man and a woman. It is not limited to those who are legally married, nor is it limited to physical contact.

Abuse takes a variety of forms, including physical, sexual, emotional and financial. Much like people, domestic violence comes in many shapes and sizes, and not one bill is going to fit them all. We should ensure that we work collaboratively to impose the best possible protections for all of those who can be affected.

An important feature of this bill is that it recognises the changes in public perception of the circumstances used as methods of control by one person over another that can cause long-lasting harm. The bill proposes to expand the list of examples of emotional or psychological harm to include forcing a person to marry another person, preventing a person from entering their place of residence or the taking of an invasive image.

I would like to mention that not all women within South Australia were born here. They may not have been afforded the same rights that we have for growing up here, but this should not impede their rights when it comes to the matter of domestic abuse. We should seek to be more inclusive of financial abuse and exploitation when considering domestic violence, especially when considering those who are of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

As for the provision of recorded evidence being admissible in court, about which the Attorney-General herself has paraphrased that the Law Society has advised the government to tread with caution, I reiterate that advice and encourage the government to consider carefully the possible ramifications, as evidence and consent can quite often be difficult topics under moments of distress and trauma.

Another change that arises from this bill is to provide the Youth Court with the ability to recognise a domestic violence order made in other jurisdictions. This is a rational change that removes an unnecessary hurdle for survivors of domestic abuse. Furthermore, the bill also proposes to increase the penalties for those who breach intervention orders. These penalties are important to deter domestic violence offenders from repeatedly harassing or hurting those who have taken out an intervention order against them.

It may be a difficult topic to discuss, but domestic violence should not be shrouded in stigma, like it has been for many years. The discussion helps to bring about awareness and change, and helps to advocate for safety. I hope that you consider this when moving on this bill, just as I do, to ensure that we work towards improving safety for all who are confronted by domestic abuse.

The Hon. C. BONAROS (12:49): I rise to speak on behalf of SA-Best to support the Statutes Amendment (Domestic Violence) Bill. The bill seeks to amend a number of acts, namely, the Criminal Law Consolidation Act, the Evidence Act, the Bail Act and the Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act, and is a positive step to further protecting victims of domestic and family violence; to stem the shocking statistics of victim homicides at the hands of perpetrators who profess to care for them, yet behave in a manner that is the complete opposite; and to put an end to the scourge of domestic and family violence.

The statistics in this field are alarming, and I pause to commend Destroy the Joint's Counting Dead Women project which, as of today, reports that 63 women have been killed in Australia this year alone, and we still have one month to go before the end of the year. The total for all of 2017 was 53 and, according to the Red Heart Campaign, I believe the total for 2018—and there are other figures—for women and children combined now stands at 93 deaths this year. There were 20 deaths this year alone that involved children under the age of 18.

We are averaging more than one death a week. In October alone nine women were killed, seven of whom were allegedly involved in an intimate relationship with either their current or a former partner, while the other two were also suspected to have died at the hands of male perpetrators. As we know, these deaths are just the tip of the iceberg.

The overwhelming majority of women killed in Australia this year died at the hands of their perpetrators or former partners. Some of these women were killed by strangers. Most of these women died as a result of male violence. Many of these women were Caucasian, some of them were Indigenous, and some were from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

They died in heinous circumstances: they were either beaten, bashed, kicked, shot, burnt alive, strangled, choked, suffocated, rundown by vehicles or raped. They were the victims of abhorrent and deadly abuse. Of the 23 homicide convictions in South Australia in 2017, 10 were related to domestic violence. We have failed these women.

I point, again, to the fact I just made that it is not just partners being killed but children as well, and that figure of 20 I quoted that we know about this year includes a nine-month-old baby who died as the result of a murder or manslaughter. Five of their killers ended their own lives as well, five of the individuals involved chose not just to take the life of another, they then also ended their own life. These figures are well documented.

Indeed, the Red Heart Campaign I just alluded to makes mention of these. It is hard reading, but it is a Facebook page and a campaign I have chosen to follow as a memorial to women and children who have lost their life to violence. The campaign has chosen to give no start and no end date for the ongoing collection of photos and stories, and they are not easy stories to follow or easy photos to view. However, I can assure members that each and every day there is something new posted on that Facebook page as a reminder of someone who has died as a result of domestic violence.

According to the campaign the gallery, one of its type in Australia, exists to honour and remember those who deserved to live long and happy lives but who were never given that chance. The campaign has chosen the well-known Banksy's Girl with a Balloon to commemorate those women and children whose photos are either unavailable or, for cultural reasons, are inappropriate to post online. The campaign's founder Sherele Moody undertakes the research, maintains the photo gallery and does the story writing for the project.

Again, I have probably learned more about deaths involving women, particularly, and also children, through this campaign than I have through the daily news cycle, because they make a point of bringing every single case we can learn of publicly into the public arena through their campaign. As confronting as these images are, the importance of them is that if we keep these matters out of sight then the chances are they largely remain out of mind.

When comparing South Australia's domestic violence statistics with those of other countries, it is frightening to see that, in 2015, 45.7 per cent of all homicide and related offences were attributed to domestic violence, which represents the second highest rate in all of Australia, following the Northern Territory. Of the victims of domestic violence who managed to survive, many are hospitalised with serious injuries.

Domestic violence is primarily a gendered crime, with the majority of violence being perpetrated against women, as we have said, despite what some commentators like Mark Latham would choose to have us believe. Recent ABS figures show that one in six Australian women have been subjected, since the age of 15, to physical and/or sexual abuse by a current or previous cohabiting partner. Aside from the physical abuse, there is the emotional abuse, the kind of stuff that remains hidden from view and concealed from family and co-workers.

The isolation from family members, friends and colleagues; being told you are not thin enough, not good enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough; being told to dress more modestly; to be followed or not being allowed out; having your phone and email monitored; being tracked by GPS or drones; the gaslighting; being denigrated in front of your children; having your grocery money carefully monitored; not being allowed to spend money; ensuring that you cannot have extra money tucked away for emergencies; not having access to bank accounts; having your passport locked away; always walking on eggshells; and never knowing what will set your perpetrator off, despite tying yourself in knots trying to pre-empt any eruption of violence—the list just goes on and on. 'How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.' This is not love; it is control, subjugation and abuse.

I recently met Vanessa Fowler, Allison Baden-Clay's sister, at an event that I attended in September, organised by Junction Australia, entitled Not So Pretty: Unmasking Domestic Violence. I remind the chamber—although I am sure each and every one of us remembers—that the murder of Allison Baden-Clay at the hands of her husband shocked our nation to the core and challenged the stereotypes of domestic violence.

Allison's sister spoke lovingly of her sister, about what a remarkable, talented, generous, kind and loving woman she was, who always—always—put others before herself and, most of all, what an exceptional mother she was to her three daughters who are now in the care of Allison's parents, who never, ever thought at this stage in their lives they would be raising their granddaughters because their daughter Allison had been murdered by her husband.

Vanessa spoke about the fact that her sister hid what was going on in her marriage very well and that she always looked good, whether she felt bad on the inside. She always made a point of looking exceptionally good to those around her. Vanessa is turning her own family tragedy into a positive legacy through the Allison Baden-Clay Foundation. The foundation encourages survivors to open up and tell their stories, with the aim of empowering women to give them their strength to get out of a relationship where they feel they are at risk.

The foundation has partnered with Griffith University in the MATE Bystander Program, which teaches people how to recognise the signs of domestic violence and how to help in a constructive way so there is no consequence for the victim. The MATE Bystander Program aims to raise awareness of the level of abusive behaviour in our culture, as well as the more subtle issues that support a harmful and abusive environment.

Vanessa readily admitted that she thinks that, if she—

The Hon. J.A. Darley interjecting:

The Hon. C. BONAROS: Are we done?—and her parents and those around Allison had known what they know now, then things may have been a little different. In fact, the inaugural conference for MATE is being conducted yesterday and today in Queensland, with Dr Nada Ibrahim, an expert in domestic and family violence in the Australian Muslim community and senior research fellow at the University of South Australia.

Dr Ibrahim has a unique expertise in building healthy family relationships, including intimate partner violence in Muslim communities, and has been involved in many cross-cultural training activities with service providers on intimate partner violence and Muslim-related issues. I seek leave to conclude my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 14:15.