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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-04-13 Daily Xml
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Parliamentary Committees

Social Development Committee: Domestic and Family Violence Inquiry

Ms COOK (Fisher) (11:38): I move:

That the 39th report of the committee, entitled Domestic and Family Violence Inquiry Report, be noted.

This report will be noted in the other place by the Presiding Member of the Social Development Committee, the Hon. Gail Gago, this afternoon. It is my privilege to present this report to the house today in the presence of the heart of the domestic and family violence sector of South Australia, and welcome some interstate leaders also.

The federal Family Law Act 1975 defines family violence as 'violent, threatening or other behaviour by a person that coerces or controls a member of the person's family, the family member, or causes the family member to be fearful'. Across Australian states and territories definitions of domestic and family violence vary under a range of acts. Here in South Australia it is defined in the Intervention Orders Act 2009.

Different definitions across Australia lead to confusion for those affected by domestic and family violence and create potential gaps in legislation. The committee acknowledges and welcomes the agreement amongst Australian jurisdictions for a consistent definition concerning the definition of domestic and family violence through the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children 2010 to 2022. Under the national plan, 'domestic violence' is defined as:

…any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.

There are common themes across these definitions. 'Domestic and family violence' describes a range of patterns of behaviours including threatening, intimidating, violent, controlling, abusive and manipulative behaviours that a person exhibits, usually against their partner, ex-partner or children in a domestic setting. In the majority of cases, the perpetrator is male and the victim is his female partner; however, anyone can be a victim of domestic or family violence.

The term 'family violence' emphasises the broader familial or kinship relationships in which this may occur. Effects of domestic and family abuse are long-term and intergenerational. Once a victim leaves the abusive situation, effects are likely to stay with them over their lifetime. It may affect their mental and physical health, their relationships with future partners, family and their children, and their financial, living and employment situations. This makes it a significant challenge for the victim to move forward positively with their life.

A child exposed to domestic and family violence experiences stress that is known to have a profound influence upon brain development. This in turn affects their future life chances through influences upon their capacity to learn at school, relationship building, personal, emotional management systems, and potential development of maladaptive coping strategies. This can leave children more likely to emulate the abusive patterns of behaviour conducted by their parents once they are adults themselves. In turn, this leads to an intergenerational transmission of abuse, inequality and harms with effects much broader than individual families.

It is estimated that across Australia, tragically, between 80 to 100 women are killed by their current or ex-partner each year. The Social Development Committee received 53 written submissions and heard evidence from 99 witnesses. This evidence came from individual members of the public, government, non-government organisations, police, justice and courts. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who wrote a submission or presented to the committee for sharing their valuable and often emotional insights, their knowledge and experiences of domestic and family violence. It is through this that the committee has been able to generate 35 unanimously supported recommendations with the aim to continue to progress the fight to prevent and eliminate domestic and family violence in South Australia.

It is notoriously difficult to accurately estimate the prevalence of domestic and family violence as abuse goes under-reported to the police, and does not include individual acts of control, manipulation, threat and intimidation that frequently characterise these relationships. It maybe not until an individual is actually no longer in that relationship that they can come to see the abuse that they have suffered. The committee recommends continued support under the national plan for the development of minimum national datasets and reporting frameworks to enable a better grasp of the extent of domestic and family violence. From this, resources can be targeted more effectively and programs and policies can then be developed upon evidence.

This inquiry drew into focus the need for more to be done to prevent domestic and family violence. Domestic and family violence is, in the vast majority of cases, descriptive of behaviour where a male perpetrator acts abusively against his female family member, usually a partner or ex-partner. This is a gender issue. The abuse is representative of attitudes towards women and girls. Unfortunately, abuse against women is commonly represented in mainstream media and is often accepted in its lesser form by women, girls, men and boys. These attitudes and acceptance of gender inequality are a societal issue; however, the effects disproportionately and negatively affect women and girls.

Given the stakes, it is vital that these root causes of violence are urgently addressed. When abuse does occur, service delivery needs to be strategic, coordinated and targeted to respond effectively to the needs of people at their most vulnerable. Domestic and family violence rates are highest amongst our most vulnerable populations. Indigenous women are reported to be 31 times more likely to be subjected to domestic and family violence. Shockingly, 25 per cent of Indigenous women have experienced one or more incidents of physical violence in the last 12 months. This over-representation saddens me greatly.

Women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are also particularly vulnerable when they are subjected to domestic and family violence. These women may not have the knowledge of their rights in Australia or South Australia under the laws that could protect them. They may also have or perceive language barriers, cultural differences and lack support networks. Women and girls who have a disability, particularly those living in residential care, are more likely to experience more severe and longer episodes of abuse than those without a disability. They may become so accustomed to the abuse that they do not even perceive that their treatment is in fact abuse. This leads to further under-reporting.

They may not be properly listened to or know how to report their abuse therefore furthering their potential to trauma. It is up to us to empower our vulnerable sisters. Women and girls living in remote and regional areas may delay accessing help and support services due to fear of reprisals in often close-knit community settings. They may not wish to leave their support networks for safe accommodation in metropolitan areas.

Where victims have to leave their homes they may also have to move far away from their workplace and could face losing employment, and it has serious consequences and impacts on their families. Moreover, it is deeply disturbing that domestic and family violence is often initiated during pregnancy—that is, the first time a woman is exposed to an attack in her relationship is during pregnancy at a time when she is nurturing the child most often of the person who is attacking her.

The committee has formulated recommendations with these populations in mind. The South Australian government is committed in its response to violence against women. Here in SA we have led the way in service delivery with services such as the Multi-Agency Protection Service, Family Safety Framework and Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Services. These are recognised and applauded from across Australia and, in fact, throughout the world.

We should be so proud of these. We applaud them but we also must continue to commit resources and explore ways to further enhance and broaden their delivery. More can and must be done. Services that are shown to be effective in supporting victims of domestic and family abuse or that prevent the abuse from occurring should be given dedicated and secure funding to continue their work and enable strategic planning.

NGOs are at the forefront of this delivery. They are operating in a highly competitive and heavily scrutinised environment. They are known to be lean in their thinking, they give value for money services but they must retain their staff in order to do this. It is impossible to do it without adequate notice of funding continuing.

These services also must be evaluated with rigour and transparency in order to provide benchmarks, monitor progress and uncover areas requiring further specific attention. Moreover, mindful information sharing between agencies to ensure the safety of potential victims of domestic and family violence is critical. Similarly, rather than spreading funding across ministerial portfolios a central source of funding would enable a more strategic approach to tackling domestic and family violence in order to focus on safety first rather than housing first.

The committee recommends to secure this portfolio in its entirety under the Minister for Women. Currently there is inconsistency between different states and federal systems in definitions, management and legislative frameworks that apply to domestic and family violence. The committee formulated five recommendations also to address this and suggests changes to framework and communication systems to attain better integration in response to domestic family violence issues.

As previously mentioned, some populations are more likely than others to experience domestic and family violence. Regional and remote court closures may have an impact upon domestic and family violence court services, and that is likely to impact upon the vulnerable women mentioned before. Similarly, women from Aboriginal and cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds may experience difficulties in communicating their experiences and needs in the court setting and be put off pursuing the court process due to this. The committee recommends these issues be examined and addressed in both the commonwealth, Family and South Australian Magistrates courts.

Domestic and family violence occurs in turbulent and destructive relationships. Given time, often memories of bad times may pass and women might be happy to withdraw their complaint. It also may be that they are subjected to threat and retaliation if the case is pursued. In order to disrupt this, the process of court and evidence gathering must be streamlined. We recommend that the Evidence Act 1929 be amended to enable police body-camera evidence to be used and submissible in courts.

The committee also calls for the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 to be amended to make it illegal to discriminate against a person on the grounds of domestic and family violence. This will make it easier to gather evidence and protect vulnerable people from confounding negative experience and decrease the risk of withdrawal.

The issue of domestic and family violence is gendered. The committee acknowledges that abuse can be suffered in all forms of relationships and kinship settings; I know all too well that one punch can kill. However, evidence received by the committee and national and international data indicate that this violence and abuse, commonly perpetrated by men against women, is sustained, relentless and lethal. While this may be seen as a women's issue, it points to the deep need to address attitudes towards women in order to prevent acceptance and actuation of violence. This is an issue of men and not women.

Effective culturally appropriate programs are required to re-educate and address the needs of men who perpetrate violence against women. Age and culturally appropriate programs must be put in place, targeting men and boys in order to target these attitudes before they become assault and abuse. As part of the national school curriculum, children are taught about the importance of healthy and respectful relationships. We must invest in this. It must be supported, continued and expanded.

The committee recommends that state funding only be granted to organisations, events, programs and functions that are committed to equal and respectful portrayal of women. The aim of this is to push the disrespect of women out of mainstream culture in the same way as we would expect with other forms of discrimination. Where abuse occurs, also penalties for domestic and family violence must be meaningful, succinct and consistently applied across jurisdictions.

We received evidence demonstrating the prevalence and effects of domestic and family violence in our South Australian society. This abuse takes a range of formats, from physical to psychological and emotional abuse, threats, control and financial disempowerment. Perpetrators display patterns of behaviour that intensify over time. Domestic and family violence occurs in a cycle. It has far-reaching, ongoing, intergenerational profound impacts on the lives of those affected. In its wake, lives are turned upside for victims. The safest place, their home, is where this happens. Here in South Australia, since 2008, 23 women and two children have lost their lives. The numbers of those threatened or assaulted are considerably higher and substantially under-reported.

The recommendations of this committee take a holistic, systems approach to address the efficiency of mechanisms in place to prevent domestic and family violence and manage the aftermath where it occurs. Victims of domestic and family violence need support to balance the difficulties of the court and official systems and emotional burden of leaving an abusive relationship and potentially leaving the family home and support networks. Perpetrators also need support to see their behaviour for the abuse it is and to address the underlying attitudes and experiences that have led them to act in the way they do.

Time expired.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:53): In light of the time, to be fair to my colleagues I will try to be brief, but I will speak to the 39th report of the Social Development Committee into domestic and family violence. I would like to note our ever-hardworking staff in the Social Development Committee and also the contributions of the members for Fisher, Torrens and Reynell, the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars, the Hon. Gail Gago, the Hon. Jing Lee and the Hon. Kelly Vincent.

This was quite an interesting inquiry and, being the only regional member on the committee, I was very keen that we got out into the regions; thankfully, we did—through the Murraylands, Riverland, Eyre Peninsula and the South-East—and we certainly had representation from communities in isolated areas. It is a very important inquiry to make sure that we keep our community safe.

As has been noted in the member for Fisher's contribution, a percentage of domestic violence victims are male, but I must say they are very much in the minority. In the main, sadly, women are the victims. Children are also the victims of family violence. I think some of the recommendations around perpetrator programs and educating our children at a young age, so that we can educate our youth at an early age to have that respect for their partners in the future, are the real key.

Sadly, what seems to happen at the moment is that so much work is at the crisis end of the debate. There are so many issues around emergency housing, especially in regional areas, where it is hard to have an anonymous emergency housing facility because quite often in the country everyone knows where everything is.

There are 35 excellent recommendations in the report, and I think the agency I was most impressed with during the inquiry is the Multi-Agency Protection Service. It is quite underfunded and runs on a shoestring, but spans across agencies relating to families, education, police and others. I really commend the work that they are doing to take out that silo mentality and actually get people working together to achieve the right outcomes for our society.

In fairness to my compatriots, I certainly applaud the report and hope that we get some great outcomes out of this to be delivered by both state and federal governments. I note that in Murray Bridge last night the police held a domestic violence forum. I could not be there because of parliament, but there is another forum I will be presenting at next month in Murray Bridge. I commend the report.

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (11:56): I also rise today to speak about this report of the Social Development Committee into domestic violence. In 2014, I moved in this house that the Social Development Committee inquire into all aspects of domestic violence; to consider what our federal government's commitments are in relation to it; and to work through everything that we can do together in South Australia to prevent and end this terrible scourge that is causing death, disability and physical and mental illness, and having a deep and profound impact on current and future generations of Australians.

On becoming the parliamentary secretary and now the Assistant Minister to the Premier, it was no loner possible for me to be on the Social Development Committee. I greatly value the time I did spend on this committee, much of which was spent on this inquiry. I pay tribute to the work of those with whom I was on the committee: Dana Wortley (member for Torrens), Adrian Pederick (member for Hammond), Gerry Kandelaars MLC, Kelly Vincent MLC, and Jing Lee MLC. I also pay tribute to those who joined the committee post my time on it: Gail Gago MLC and Nat Cook (member for Fisher). I also thank those who provided administrative and research support to this committee.

The moving of this motion followed significant discussion about the possibility of this inquiry at many meetings of the Social Development Committee. I have also had numerous conversations over decades with extraordinary workers who work at the coalface of need in domestic violence shelters, outreach services and other organisations across South Australia, and unfortunately way too many heartfelt and personal conversations with colleagues, family members, friends, community members, constituents and acquaintances who have their own history of domestic violence about the lasting impact it has had on their lives, confidence and wellbeing, and the lives of those they love.

The impetus for the inquiry was also of course underpinned by what we know about domestic violence and what relentlessly calls us to act. I will repeat those facts that continue to call us to act: the fact that one in three women is now subject to violence at some time in their lives, starting from the age of 15; that now more than one woman per week in Australia is killed as a result of domestic violence; that there is a spike in domestic violence perpetrated against women who are pregnant; that domestic violence has a profound impact on children who witness it, and in many cases constitutes child abuse; that women are most at risk of violence in the home from men they know; and that the most common location for physical assaults against women is in the home. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I do apologise, member for Torrens, that it has just not been possible to call you on today. I know there may have been other members who wished to speak to acknowledge this very important report, but the debate will continue. We hope to have the opportunity to welcome some of your visitors back to the parliament for that discussion.

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