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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-09-05 Daily Xml
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Domestic Violence

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:34): My question is directed to the Minister for Human Services about measures to address domestic violence. Can the minister please update the chamber about the suite of measures that the government has allocated in the 2018-19 state budget to address the devastating problem of domestic violence in South Australia?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:35): I thank the honourable member for her interest in this area and for her very sensible question. This government has a strong plan to address violence against women and has delivered on all of our election commitments in the recent budget, which a number of members of the former shadow cabinet (now cabinet) had a great contribution in and are very proud of.

Elements have included that we will improve data collection and communication to ensure that domestic violence data suits the needs of the sector, which is a collaborative partnership that is currently being led by the Office for Women, with the Attorney-General's Department, the Office for Data Analytics and the Office of Crime Statistics and Research. The Attorney-General's Department, in consultation with the Office for Women, tabled a proposal in May to improve access to data across government and non-government sectors, and the Office for Women and the Attorney-General's Department are collaborating to develop an options paper for the way forward.

The extension of safety hubs in regional South Australia is an ongoing work and is being worked on through our regional round tables and through relevant government agencies to develop a model for safety hubs, with the intention of developing and implementing a proposed model in regional sites: one to two sites in 2018-19 prior to further rollouts across South Australia.

Peak body funding for the coalition of women's domestic and Aboriginal family violence services will ensure that the coalition, in line with a range of other peak bodies that the government provides funding to—SACOSS, YACSA, COTA and the like—will receive $624,000 over four years. The development of a personal protection app: one-off funding of $150,000 has been provided. One of the really important areas that the women's sector is very excited about is the 24/7 funding for the women's safety crisis hotline, which is something that they called for during the election campaign. We have been able to provide $1.66 million over four years to Women's Safety Services to provide for that hotline to operate 24 hours a day.

I think I have spoken about the 40 new crisis accommodation beds for domestic violence victims, to which $4 million has been allocated in the state budget. The round tables are providing input into where those should be located, and also the interest-free loans for capital projects in the non-government sector at $5 million.

It is a significant package of reforms. We saw with the previous government that there was a discussion paper released, I think, in July 2016 and the subsequent budget showed no commitment whatsoever. From my understanding of the former government's commitment at the last election, its centrepiece in its domestic violence policy was that the premier of the day announced that he would add domestic violence to his title, which is the sort of usual nonsense that we got from the government; very much sort of tokenistic without substance.

We are pleased as well to have the domestic violence disclosure scheme, which we will be commencing as a statewide trial. That is under the auspices of the Attorney-General and that is something I think that has been called for for several years in South Australia. With those comments, I again thank the honourable member for her commitment in this area, knowing that she has a deep understanding within CALD communities of the need for these services.

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