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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-07-04 Daily Xml
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Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme

Ms LUETHEN (King) (14:14): My question is to the Deputy Premier. Will the Deputy Premier provide to the house an update on the rollout of the domestic violence disclosure scheme and its importance for all of South Australia?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (14:15): I wish to thank the member for King for this important question. Along with the member for Elder, as the Assistant Minister for Family Violence Prevention—a bit of a mouthful, but she is on the job and doing it extremely well—both have been playing an incredible role in domestic violence prevention. The government had a strong agenda for domestic violence prevention at the March election, and we intend to continue to honour it.

Key facets of the commitment include co-locating services in safety hubs across our state; a personal protection app to link at-risk individuals directly to SAPOL and women's services; funding for the Women's Safety Services crisis hotline to operate 24 hours a day; improved communications with domestic violence victims about changes to the perpetrators' bail and parole conditions; and, importantly, the implementation of a domestic violence disclosure scheme. This is a key tenet of the overall policy, and I am pleased to announce that this scheme will be fully rolled out as and from 1 October 2018.

Members would be familiar with the other schemes that operate, known as Clare's Law in the United Kingdom, for a potential victim of domestic violence to seek information on a partner's history through an application made to the police. Those applying through this service will have their applications processed quickly and a report provided to them should any relevant criminal offending need to be disclosed. Importantly, it's a service that will be bolstered by the strong support from the Women's Safety Services and the Office for Women.

Recently, I met with the Minister for Women in New South Wales. Their Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme has been operating for two years, with the trial being extended. Over those two years, 50 disclosures were made to at-risk applicants. While this number is important, may I say that I wish to place more emphasis on another number, and that is that New South Wales has now linked over 300 other women with support services, that is, those who have exercised the request and had the disclosed material provided. It hasn't disclosed any criminal history.

Nevertheless, it means that these women have gone to the police after feeling there was something not quite right, they have applied, they have gone through the process and no relevant criminal offending was found. The key part of this is to ensure that those applicants are immediately linked with support services to assist them in relation to their concerns.

There is a reason why people come forward. They may not immediately be in a domestic violence situation, but they are worried. They have a feeling that something is not quite right in their personal relationship, and they need to be reassured or prepared for the worst. These are applicants that the Women's Safety Services would never have been able to contact previously because we didn't know that they existed. Under the scheme in South Australia, they will instead be able to receive support and assistance for why they felt the need to approach the police and what can be done.

By way of background, in the first 30 days of forming government, the Minister for Human Services, the Hon. Michelle Lensink in another place, the Hon. Corey Wingard and I hosted a domestic violence round table in the city. We are continuing to work with SAPOL, which has provided helpful guidelines in respect of how this should be operational and how it should be most effective, including protecting those who are involved.

Unfortunately, the former government were not committed to this scheme. I recognise the work of the members for Elizabeth and Reynell, who have consistently indicated their support for this, and I thank them for their continued support. We have committed to this, we are doing it, and it will start in October.

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