Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (16:18): I move:

That this council—

1. Recognises that the month of May is Domestic Violence Prevention Month, and the urgent need to raise awareness, stand with survivors, and take meaningful action to prevent domestic and family violence in all its forms.

2. Recognises that domestic violence is not a private matter, it is a pervasive social crisis that affects individuals across every community, regardless of age, culture, or social and economic status and that it is a time to remember those who have lost their lives, support those who are rebuilding theirs, and recommit to creating a future where every person feels safe in their home and relationships.

3. Reflects on the role that individuals, especially men, must play in challenging the cultural and systemic norms that allow violence to continue. Domestic violence is not just a 'women's issue', it is a societal issue, and it is every man's responsibility to speak out against it, call out abusive behaviour, and contribute to a culture of respect and accountability; and with this in mind that the council:

(a) condemns in the strongest possible terms all forms of domestic violence, including physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, and financial abuse, and recognises that such violence disproportionately affects women and children;

(b) acknowledges the profound and long-lasting harm that domestic violence causes to individuals, families, and communities, and the urgent need for systemic action to prevent it;

(c) affirms that violence against women and children is never acceptable, never excusable, and must be treated as a matter of urgent national and social concern;

(d) recognises that ending violence against women requires a whole-of-society effort, and calls on all men, as brothers, fathers, partners, friends, and bystanders, to actively challenge sexist attitudes, call out abusive behaviour, and speak up when they witness or become aware of violence or the threat of violence against women;

(e) condemns the persistent societal tendency to disbelieve, discredit, or subject women's reports of domestic or sexual violence to disproportionate scrutiny compared to reports of other crimes;

(f) commits to supporting survivors of domestic violence through robust legal protections, accessible support services, and public education campaigns aimed at prevention and accountability;

(g) calls upon the government, institutions, communities, and leaders to foster a culture where women and children can live free from fear, and where silence in the face of violence is no longer tolerated.

Domestic and family violence remains disturbingly prevalent in our state and in our nation. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one in six women in Australia has experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or former partner. Just over one in four women have experienced some form of partner violence or abuse in their lifetime. These numbers reflect hundreds of thousands of South Australians who live in fear or experience the insidious effects of coercive control. Alarming figures indicate that two in five South Australian women have suffered physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15, a rate which I understand is higher than the national average. We also know that Aboriginal women face disproportionately higher rates of violence, and this is immensely disturbing.

We also need to remember when reporting statistics that domestic violence often goes unreported. An overwhelming 92 per cent of women nationally who experience sexual assault by a male did not report the most recent incident to police. On average in Australia, one woman is killed by an intimate partner every 11 days, although I think the Counting Dead Women data through Destroy the Joint has reported that as every four days. On any metric, that is unacceptable.

In South Australia, we did see that, over a recent 12-month period, 22 murders were reported, which was a 69 per cent increase from the year before, with domestic violence cited as a major factor. Recent police figures show that family and domestic violence related offences continue to increase, with more than 6½ thousand domestic violence related proceedings recorded in South Australia in the 2023-24 reporting year.

The severity of this crisis cannot be overstated. Domestic and family violence causes serious and long-term harm, physical injuries, psychological trauma, emotional suffering and financial insecurity, which does not just affect individuals but their families and communities for generations. Children who are exposed to violence in the home are also deeply impacted and the trauma they experience can carry forward across generations and reinforce cycles of violence and disadvantage.

We know that preventing domestic violence requires a whole-of-society effort and it calls for the active involvement of men in challenging the norms that enable it. Research shows a clear link between rigid gender stereotypes and high rates of violence. Organisations such as Our Watch have outlined that changing society's attitudes about gender and promoting respectful relationships are critical to ending violence. Men can recognise their critical role not just by rejecting violence themselves but by challenging sexist attitudes, calling out disrespectful behaviour and standing in solidarity with survivors to help make the change we need.

Education also plays a pivotal role, with long-term, evidence-based respectful relationship education in all schools being essential to shift attitudes and teach young people about respect, consent and healthy relationships. We know through the five-yearly surveys that are conducted by agencies at federal government level that there are disturbing attitudes among young people, particularly in relation to controlling behaviour in relationships, that such controlling behaviour is merely a way to show that someone cares, rather than recognising it for what it is, which is coercive control.

We can never begin too early teaching young people particularly that violence is never acceptable and that healthy relationships are built on mutual respect and equality. Cultural change takes time, but it is essential. While prevention is critical, we must also ensure that legal protections and support systems for survivors are robust and accessible. I acknowledge recent steps this parliament has made, such as changes to strangulation and a range of other measures, monitoring and the like; however, more needs to be done to ensure victims have access to safe housing, financial support, mental health services and effective legal support. Survivors need to be believed, supported and empowered to rebuild their lives free from violence and fear.

To meet growing demand, we must continue to fund frontline services at the levels they need to provide safer homes, counselling, legal support and crisis response staff. We must listen to the voices of survivors and organisations that work in this field, ensuring that those with lived experience and frontline experience inform policy and legislation.

We are all waiting eagerly for the reporting from the DV royal commission. I commend the commissioner, Natasha Stott Despoja AO, for her commitment in holding that position. We all know that she has a great deal of experience, both nationally as Chair of Our Watch and also in a number of global roles that she has held to support women and girls overseas. She has a very deep understanding of these issues, and I know that she will look at all of the issues across the spectrum, from prevention through to crisis services. She is going to have a particularly significant focus on Aboriginal women, who, as I said, experience violence at very disproportionate levels.

I am often reluctant to politicise these issues, but we do know it was the sector which, in August 2023, had spoken to the government about a royal commission. A number of us stood with them to also call for a royal commission into violence. It was not really until we had a spate of deaths in South Australia that shocked everyone that the government agreed to the royal commission, and even then it did not commence operation until the following July, nearly 12 months after the sector had asked for it.

I am calling on the government to ensure that there is a commitment to funding for domestic violence services in this upcoming budget. I do not think it is going to be an excuse for them to say that they can wait for the royal commission. I suspect that the recommendations are going to be significant. It would be glib, given the seriousness of these issues, for this government to say that it can move things off into the following budget, which will not be until after the election. Even the Mid-Year Budget Review is likely to be inadequate. I am hopeful that there will be some contingency funding.

It is acknowledged widely in the women's sector and in the domestic and family violence sector that the government that I served in had a strong commitment to stamping out domestic and family violence and, indeed, to providing a range of services, some very innovative services. We provided record funding to specific domestic and family violence services. Some of that was provided from the commonwealth government through COVID measures. I would just like to outline some of the things that we were able to do.

We expanded the definition of 'abuse' and increased penalties for repeat violent breaches of intervention orders; allowed for body-worn cameras to collect evidence, which could then be used in court; and introduced the standalone criminal offence of non-fatal strangulation. I note that, given that has been in operation for several years, this government has made some changes to ensure that perpetrators can be called to account.

We amended the Sentencing Act to lower the available discount for various serious offences against the person that are often experienced in domestic violence situations. We removed the requirement for all victims, including victims of domestic and family violence, to have any contact with perpetrators when assessing compensation through the Victims of Crime Act. We abolished the defence of provocation.

We provided a range of new programs, including the early intervention impacts of violence on children program, which provides one-on-one intensive and assertive engagement for young people between the ages of 12 to 25 who are pregnant or parenting and at risk of experiencing domestic violence. We commenced South Australia's first Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, which enables a person or a friend or relative of theirs to seek information from South Australia Police about a current or former partner's violent offending history. I note that that scheme has been under immense pressure lately and the government has had to increase funding to it.

We provided funding to keep victims of domestic and family violence informed about a perpetrator's custody status and parole. We provided funding for Relationships Australia to provide counselling and funding for the Commissioner for Victims' Rights to take on additional responsibilities, including helping victims through the court process and in preparing victim impact statements. The Family Safety Framework, through the Department of Human Services, was to allow sharing and safety planning for high-risk victims of domestic and family violence.

We expanded funding for the Domestic Violence Crisis Line because that had not been operating 24 hours a day, and clearly that was inadequate. We provided additional funding to Yarrow Place to provide specialist counselling and health responses to those impacted by rape and sexual assault. We provided funding for the Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service to assist women, particularly in relation to interim orders.

We provided funding for 40 new crisis accommodation beds, nine of which were to be allocated to perpetrators so that they could be the ones who actually leave the family home. That left 31 emergency beds that the frontline services could immediately use to assist someone or families who were at immediate risk. We funded for the first time the Coalition of Women's Domestic Violence Services as a peak body. They are now known as Embolden, but their advocacy work is immensely important. For the people who are in that peak body to be expected to do that work in their spare time is unacceptable.

We funded a new domestic violence app, which enabled people to contact services very quickly. We opened nine safety hubs in regional areas, which was to enable people not just to access services but to understand whether what they were experiencing was in fact domestic and family violence. We funded a prevention program, Stop it at the Start, which is one of many of the different programs that have been funded in South Australia or nationally, which does assist with some of that community understanding.

We provided a $5 million interest-free loan to develop a new domestic violence support housing initiative, which clearly shows how long these things can take to come into fruition. That was provided by the YWCA and the first sod turning took place within the last few months on Hutt Street. We also provided a range of new services, Safe and Well Kids, which I am told by the sector has been extremely useful and has been evaluated. It provides wraparound support to children and adolescents who have experienced domestic and family violence.

We provided funding for an Aboriginal children's therapeutic service to trial a trauma responsive therapeutic model specifically for Aboriginal children and adolescents. We provided new funding for safe and secure housing to help women and children move out of temporary crisis accommodation and into safe long-term accommodation. We provided individual support packages for at-risk South Australian women. Hundreds of South Australian women were financially supported to assist them with a range of things they might need, whether it was paying bills or renewing their driver's licence.

We provided a statewide 24-hour perpetrator response service. We know that often services for perpetrators have been inadequately funded, so the 24-hour Men's Referral Service hotline and wraparound services have been incredibly helpful for men who use violence to help them make changes. The Break the Cycle campaign was another important advertising campaign. The new KIND program was again targeted to young men who have been violent to their families.

Those are a range of the things that our government did of which I remain very proud and I look forward to a rollout of similar services. Quite frankly, I do not think we actually have seen a great deal from this government. When you line up end to end what the Marshall government did in four years with what this particular government has done, it is not a great deal. So we mark domestic violence prevention this month. It provides us an opportunity to recognise what is taking place, to say to survivors that we see them and we support them. I commend the motion.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.