Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence in South Australia

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. T.A. Franks:

That this council calls on the Malinauskas government to establish a royal commission into domestic, family and sexual violence in South Australia.

(Continued from 29 November 2023.)

The Hon. L.A. HENDERSON (16:45): I rise today to support this motion. At the time the honourable member moved this motion, we had tragically seen four South Australian women murdered in one week. In November, we saw reports that six women had been killed across Australia in just 10 days. In the landscape of a national family and domestic violence crisis, this royal commission is being established at a crucial time.

Ultimately, the true figures around family and domestic violence really do remain unknown. The very nature of family and domestic violence is that it often goes on behind closed doors. Some violence may go on for years before family and friends suspect. Some may never know what their loved ones go through behind closed doors. Indeed, some in our community may not necessarily realise that they themselves are victims of family and domestic violence.

We know that domestic violence occurs and could entail physical abuse but it also could include intimidation, isolation, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, spiritual abuse or coercive control. It could be attempting to isolate someone from their family and friends, controlling their finances, monitoring what they say, what they wear, even what they eat or when they sleep.

I was recently approached by a male victim of family and domestic violence who sought to highlight—and rightly so—that this is not just an issue that solely impacts women. We know, and statistics show, that it impacts males too. It is vital that, in the process of this royal commission, a broad lens is used and that the sons, the brothers, the husbands who are also impacted by family and domestic violence are not lost in this discussion and that these victims, too, are given a voice.

It is reported that on average in Australia, a woman is killed by an intimate partner every 10 days, while one in three women has experienced physical violence since the age of 15. We should never let the victims of family and domestic violence be reduced to just a number. Each number represents a person who will never reach their full potential, who will never have the opportunity to see their hopes or their dreams become a reality, a life that was cut too short and ripped away through no fault of their own, a mother who will never hold their child again, a child who will never graduate from school, or a baby who will never take their first steps.

It was reported that more than 60 women were killed in violent attacks in 2023, a number that is not entirely clear. That is over 60 women who, sadly, were not sitting around the dinner table at Christmas time, leaving a hole in the hearts of their loved ones, a hole that can never be filled. The ability to collect data and report it in a timely and accurate way is vital in eliminating family and domestic violence in this country.

I think many will be waiting and watching for the federal government's commitment to roll out and to implement their promise to establish an online tracker that will provide quarterly updates on intimate partner homicides. In saying that, this will only capture a part of the story. We will never really know the true figures of family and domestic violence as so many in our community struggle behind closed doors in the privacy of their own homes.

We have all seen and heard the campaigns. We know that violence against women starts with disrespect, which is why we have to stop it at the start. We know that not all disrespect to women results in violence, but all violence against women, and indeed all violence, starts with disrespect.

We have seen the powerful campaign around seeing the signs of coercive control and the social media materials on seeing red flags. Coercive control is an under-reported type of domestic violence where an abuser seeks to control a victim's behaviour. This is incredibly important work in seeing a shift in our community, but at what point will we really see the dial shift? The statistics show that the system is not working, and I truly hope that we do not see a repeat of last year.

So now is the time to listen to the experts. Now is the time to identify the gaps and how we best fix them. Now is the time to listen to those with lived experience. I welcome the appointment of Natasha Stott Despoja to lead South Australia's domestic violence royal commission. I acknowledge her work in this space as the founding chair of Our Watch, a national foundation to prevent family violence, and her work in several international roles promoting the rights of women and children.

The royal commission is expected to take around 12 months and will formally commence on 1 July, around four months from now. I note the final report is due around 1 July 2025. This is roughly around 19 months since the Hon. Tammy Franks, the Hon. Connie Bonaros and the Hon. Michelle Lensink stood in this place to call on this government to establish a royal commission. This is around 19 months during which the community is left waiting.

Importantly, when the royal commission delivers this report, this is only the first step. The important step will be what this government then chooses to do with those recommendations once this report is finally handed down. In the meantime, until then, women and families are left with the status quo. Every death to family and domestic violence is a death that was preventable. It is with this reminder that we must continue to strive for the eradication of family and domestic violence.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (16:51): I move:

Leave out all words after 'council' and insert:

'acknowledges the announcement by the Malinauskas government establishing the Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence and the appointment of Natasha Stott Despoja AO to the role of royal commissioner'.

The prevalence of domestic, family and sexual violence in our community is utterly unacceptable. Our hearts go out to all those who are impacted by what is a terrible scourge. In late 2023, the Malinauskas government committed to establishing a royal commission inquiring into domestic, family and sexual violence in South Australia.

On Monday 4 March, the state government appointed Natasha Stott Despoja AO as the royal commissioner and released the terms of reference. Natasha Stott Despoja AO is known as a proven leader and a proud and enduring advocate in the struggle to prevent domestic, family and sexual violence. In July 2013, she was named the founding chair of Our Watch, the national foundation to prevent violence against women and children. She was appointed life patron of Our Watch in August 2022.

Ms Stott Despoja served as national Ambassador for Women and Girls from 2013 to 2016. She was a member of the World Bank's Gender Advisory Council from 2015 to 2017 and is currently a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and served on the 2017 UN High Level Working Group on the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents. Our government is very pleased that South Australian Natasha Stott Despoja is willing to take on this incredibly important role.

The royal commission will focus on prevention, early intervention, South Australia's response, recovery and healing, and how these efforts can be better integrated and coordinated. Preventing and responding to family, domestic and sexual violence is a complex and shared responsibility that will require coordination across government and the community, including courts, police and correctional services, legal services, housing, child protection and family services, schools, health, non-government organisations, media, families and individuals.

The additional issues that occur in regional settings should also be a part of this commission. It is important that this royal commission will look across these areas at what policy, legislative, administrative or structural reforms are required to build a longer term blueprint for ending family, domestic and sexual violence. The royal commission adds to the considerable suite of policies and reforms already in train by the Malinauskas Labor government, which include:

a commitment to legislate to criminalise coercive control, with extensive consultation with community and the sector undertaken;

making the experience of domestic violence a ground of discrimination in the Equal Opportunity Act;

enshrining 15 days' paid domestic violence leave for workers engaged in the state industrial system;

committing $1 million to establish southern and northern DV prevention and recovery hubs;

providing $800,000 to restore funding to the Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service for the next four years;

reinstating funding to Catherine House that was cut by the former government;

establishing the Housing Security for Older Women Taskforce, knowing that domestic violence is a key factor in housing insecurity;

ring-fencing a proportion of public housing for women escaping violence; and

engaging with the finance and real estate industries to ensure that women do not bear the brunt of mortgages, loans and rent that go unpaid in a domestic violence situation.

Our government is proud of the strong focus on this issue and of the innovative work we have done so far in prevention, intervention, response, recovery and healing, but we know there is more to do. The royal commission will also have a strong focus on empowering the voices of survivors and will help shift community understanding and discourse about domestic, family and sexual violence. We know this royal commission will generate important conversations in families and communities across South Australia about the role they can play to prevent violence.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (16:56): I rise very briefly in support of this motion. In so doing I want to acknowledge the leadership of my colleague the Hon. Tammy Franks who, along with the Hon. Michelle Lensink and the Hon. Connie Bonaros, called for this royal commission last year. I also recognise the government's leadership in taking this up and making this happen and also in appointing Natasha Stott Despoja, who I think everyone in this place would agree is a fine appointment to that role and, as has been observed by other speakers, brings a wealth of experience in terms of advocacy for women and girls.

As has been observed, this is a terrible scourge for our state and this royal commission will play a really important role in finding solutions. Some statistics are important to put on the public record. According to the 'In Australia' report, one in six women and 11 per cent of all adults have experienced violence from a partner, and since the first National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children was adopted 13 years ago over 700 women have been murdered in Australia.

First Nations women, women from culturally diverse backgrounds, women in regional areas, older women, LGBTIQ+ women and women with a disability are much more likely to experience this violence. I think all members of the South Australian community were deeply saddened and shocked to see a number of deaths in the latter half of last year. This royal commission comes at an important time, and I look forward to seeing the outcomes of the commission. Again, I praise my colleague for her leadership in pushing for action on this really important issue.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (16:58): I would like to start by thanking those members of this council who have made a contribution to this motion: the Hon. Connie Bonaros, the Hon. Michelle Lensink, the Hon. Laura Henderson, the Hon. Clare Scriven and the Hon. Rob Simms. I thank them for their words and support, and I know that this motion potentially is unanimously supported in this place, which is as it should be.

Last November, the call for a royal commission from those working in this sector, dealing with domestic, family and sexual violence on a daily basis, was heard by this parliament, and I am happy today that we are coming to this debate with action already taken and an announcement already made by the Premier. I certainly support the amendment moved by the government today to this motion. In fact, I can think of very few people more suitable than Natasha Stott Despoja to take on the role of the royal commissioner into domestic, family and sexual violence in this state.

Natasha Stott Despoja AO is not only someone I call a friend but is somebody I believe is an extraordinary South Australian. As Minister Scriven outlined, her background as the founding chair of Our Watch and work that she has done through the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) through the UN, as well as her role as Ambassador for Women and Girls in our region, equip her to hit the ground running.

Of course, she will be working alongside many who are at the really pointy end of the scourge of domestic, family and sexual violence in our state. Some of those include Our Watch as well as Women's Safety Services South Australia, the Zahra Foundation, Catherine House, the Working Women's Centre South Australia, White Ribbon Australia, SA Unions, the National Council of Women South Australia and Zonta. The work of those organisations is well known to many in this council and applauded. I am glad to see that their work will hopefully be amplified and supported through the processes of a royal commission.

To quote Embolden, another organisation that I would like to pay tribute to, which is an alliance for women's freedom, equality and respect in South Australia, and in particular Maria Hagias and Susie Smith of that organisation, what a royal commission will do is that those women, children and other people experiencing violence should be able to easily access the support that they need when they need it, no matter who they are or where they live in South Australia, and this is currently not the case.

We must ensure that every door is the right door for people experiencing violence seeking services. The power of a royal commission to consider data and information from across our systems is required to understand barriers, gaps and opportunities that will keep South Australian women and children safer. It can strategically target much-needed investment where it will have the most impact and, over the longer term, across prevention, early intervention, crisis response, recovery and healing.

They wrote to members of this place that a royal commission will also provide a critical opportunity to understand the experience of women and children experiencing violence, many of whom are not in contact with police and services. I reflect on that because this call for a royal commission and the vigils that happen on the steps of this place were spurred by what is thought to be in recorded history the worst week of violence against women in our state's history in one week. In fact, we know that those women were not necessarily in contact with police or services. So not only was it a systems error but it was currently completely invisible to our systems and services that these women were at risk.

With that, I obviously commend the motion to the council, and I thank all who have played their part in establishing this royal commission. I commend the Malinauskas government and Minister Hildyard for their leadership here, and I look forward to that commission on 1 July. I know the work is already underway for hitting the ground running, so to speak.

While a year is a short time and while $3 million is a small amount of money, I know they will build on the expertise not just within our state but of the royal commission that was held in Victoria some decade or so ago now. Hopefully, in this place, we will be attending fewer vigils and the statistics will start to trend in a more positive place as women and children in particular are safer and we all play our role to create safer homes, communities, families and lives for all South Australians.

Amendment carried; motion as amended carried.