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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-10-16 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

Domestic Violence

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:01): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: On 7 July, State Coroner Mark Johns released the findings of the inquest into the death of Zahra Abrahimzadeh, who was murdered by her estranged husband at a cultural event in the city in March 2010. Mr Johns noted that:

…given…this Inquest is about domestic violence, an issue which has recently been described by the Premier as a key priority of the Government, I have thought it appropriate to direct the recommendations to the Premier.

Today, I reassert our resolve to address this issue of domestic violence and will set out the responses we have made in addressing the issues raised by the Coroner. I would like to acknowledge the presence in the chamber today of Arman Abrahimzadeh, Zahra's son. Today, I have released both the response to the Coroner from SAPOL and a whole-of-government response that addresses issues raised in the inquest and sets out our broader response to domestic violence in general.

SAPOL has accepted eight of the 10 recommendations in full, and its actions include: a new prosecution staffing model; enhanced domestic violence training programs; and formal protocols between the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion and SAPOL to flag and update domestic violence safe houses. With regard to the other two recommendations, the government has taken some different actions from those recommended to help address the concerns raised by the Coroner.

The Coroner recommended SAPOL's criminal justice section be staffed by legal practitioners so that domestic violence restraining orders can be properly presented before magistrates. In the Abrahimzadeh case, the perpetrator's permanent intervention order was modified to permit him to attend cultural and religious functions, and, ultimately, the victim was murdered at such an event. In response, the government will establish a women's domestic violence court assistance service, which will provide a greater level of support within the court system for victims of violence. Legal officers, including a senior lawyer, will provide support and advocate on behalf of women to apply for an intervention order or report a breach and raise safety concerns or any other issue that may need to be raised in court. This free and confidential service will be funded by the Victims of Crime Fund.

The Coroner's findings highlight that we need to better identify at an early stage any gaps or flaws in our system of responding to domestic violence. The Coroner recommended that all domestic violence calls to the SAPOL call centre be handled by sworn police officers. This is not something done in any Australian jurisdiction, and we do not believe it is an appropriate response here. However, the government has responded to the Coroner's criticism by establishing an early warning system to provide an escalation point where there have been process flaws or gaps in the response of a government agency to domestic violence. It will be a point of call for domestic violence services when a situation occurs where they believe the response was not adequate.

In addition to our responses to the Coroner's recommendations, I have announced today that all South Australian government departments will obtain White Ribbon workplace accreditation. Workplaces play an important role in preventing violence against women and the state government, as the largest employer in the state, must lead by example. A reduction in the prevalence of domestic violence will not be achieved with law and order responses alone. The community's attitude that underpins domestic violence needs to change. It needs to be recognised that domestic violence is a men's issue as well as a women's issue. We need men to be role models on this issue.

Amidst the grief of losing his mother, Arman has stepped up as a male role model on the issue of domestic violence. I pay tribute to him for his tireless work and thank him for being here as I present to the house our response to the issue of domestic violence.

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