Domestic Violence Laws

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:05): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General regarding bail laws for perpetrators of domestic violence.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: It has recently been reported that the New South Wales government is proposing to overhaul bail laws in their state. It's quite a broad discussion, but one of the key measures will be to keep domestic violence offenders who are considered a high risk to the community imprisoned. Those charged with other serious offences, including rape, for example, will also be targeted in these proposed amendments which have not yet passed their parliament but are being actively considered, I understand. My questions to the Attorney-General are:

1. Is the Attorney considering a similar overhaul of South Australia's bail laws?

2. If so, when might the South Australian public expect to see a draft of such laws?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:06): I thank the honourable member for his question. Certainly, we do keep up, with interest, with developments in other jurisdictions. I know that the New South Wales changes that have been announced followed changes that we made here in South Australia—that this parliament has made.

We, very recently in this chamber, made changes to ensure that for people who breach domestic violence intervention orders with threats or acts of violence there is a presumption against bail. I know that sparked interest from a number of other jurisdictions around Australia about what we are doing here, so I was very pleased to be able to inform some of my colleagues in other jurisdictions around Australia about the significant steps we have taken in South Australia. We are always keen to look at developments in other states to see if they have an application here.