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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-05-04 Daily Xml
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International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (17:12): I move:

That this council—

1. Acknowledges that 25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

2. Commends the following initiatives of the Marshall Liberal government for domestic violence prevention—

(a) funding 100 crisis beds across the state to provide women and children fleeing domestic violence with somewhere safer and more suitable to go than traditional motel accommodation, through the provision of enhanced security and a home-like environment with features like a kitchen and laundry;

(b) resources to enable the electronic monitoring of more than 100 people charged or convicted of a domestic and family violence offence who break intervention orders, refusing to leave their victims alone;

(c) interest-free loans for non-government domestic violence organisations to fund housing-related projects;

(d) funding a trial Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme to ensure women who request information about a partner’s criminal history have support from a specialist domestic violence service and the opportunity to find out if their current or former partner has a history of violence;

(e) funding of an app linking at-risk individuals directly to SAPOL and women’s domestic violence services; and

(f) legislative reforms including expansion of the definition of abuse and increased penalties for repeated or violent breaches of intervention orders.

I note that International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is some time off on 25 November. Indeed, today there will be a domestic and family violence vigil at the Place of Courage at Rotary Park at Christies Beach, which a number of us will be attending online later on today. I particularly acknowledge Helen and Heather Oxenham, who have been great advocates for the Place of Courage.

Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960 of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic. On 20 December 1993, the United Nations General Assembly, by resolution 48/104, adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

In this context, in 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW) and invited governments, international organisations and NGOs to organise on that day activities designed to raise public awareness of these terrible issues. IDEVAW represents the start of the 16 Days of Activism, addressing violence against women and their children. Human Rights Day, on 10 December, is the conclusion of the 16 Days of Activism.

In Australia, IDEVAW has been the day on which White Ribbon Day is celebrated; however, this year White Ribbon Day will be celebrated on 22 November, which recognises the role of men in preventing violence against women. I acknowledge the many members of this place and the other place who have participated to ensure that they are not bystanders and are doing their bit to assist the safety of women and children.

In relation to the particular items of the motion, I would like to make some remarks in relation to that: first, the domestic violence beds, interest-free loans, the life-saving app and the domestic violence disclosure scheme. It is an honour to reflect on the achievements of the Marshall Liberal government in tackling the scourge of domestic violence and delivering for survivors. Our vision was for South Australian women to feel safe and know that they could reach out for support when and where they need, because we know that when women feel safe both they and their children have the best chance of thriving.

As a government the Marshall Liberal government committed record funding to support South Australians experiencing domestic family and sexual violence, as well as a range of new prevention measures. In our four years we committed more than $21 million in new funding towards a suite of new DV measures to support South Australians. These included but are not limited to—and there is quite a long list and a media release issued by the then Attorney-General, Vickie Chapman, and the assistant minister for domestic and family violence prevention, Caroline Power, on 4 May last year, which detailed a range of measures in a large number of areas.

These are some of our highlights. We provided 40 new crisis accommodation beds for South Australians leaving domestic and family violence across Adelaide and the regions, including nine beds for a perpetrator pilot through Community Transitions, or OARS. Those beds have been up and running in the locations where they are needed, as was advised to us through consultation with frontline service providers.

Men in South Australia can now access support through the men's referral service, and inquire about crisis accommodation through the Community Transitions phone line. All the 31 beds for DV victims have been operational, many for some time, including eight beds in the northern metro region, six beds in the southern metro and 18 beds across SA, including the Limestone Coast, Murray Mallee and Eyre and Western.

During the election campaign we were able to announce that we were expanding the program from the 31 beds to 100 beds—that is funding that was approved through the South Australian Housing Authority, and we know that those beds will provide a much more appropriate response for people experiencing domestic violence than the emergency accommodation program, which is the hotel/motels that is referenced in the motion.

Anybody who has had to raise children, particularly young ones, knows that hotel rooms are not the most appropriate place for young children, and to have the space and amenity makes a big difference, particularly if people are there for some time. I look forward to those beds continuing to be rolled out. That was something that was approved by cabinet, and we will be watching closely to ensure that the new government does not renege on that particular program.

There was also an interest-free loan to develop a new housing support initiative, which I think has been announced. It took some time to land, and COVID certainly did not help that process, but the YWCA has a site at Hutt Street, which they will be seeking to redevelop into crisis accommodation. Funding was provided to a new life-saving domestic violence app. As at 30 September 2021, over 500 women had accessed the app by the specialist DV services, and the duress function was activated 99 times.

There was also the domestic violence disclosure scheme, which was part of our suite of election commitments coming into office, that enabled people in South Australia for the first time to seek information from SAPOL about a current or former partner's violent offending history and that enabled them to make informed decisions about their relationship.

I do acknowledge that this scheme had been flagged by the previous government, but they did not actually get around to doing anything about it, so it was something that we were very pleased to be able to implement. I understand that over 1,000 people have sought information on their current or former partner's criminal history, and that is part of more of the prevention measures that assist people not to go through that trauma.

In terms of electronic monitoring, the Marshall Liberal government had a plan to better protect victim survivors through new resources that would enable the electronic monitoring of more than 100 people who have been charged with or convicted of an offence and who break their intervention orders. This would save lives immediately by notifying authorities when an order is breached and also gives victim survivors the confidence they need to live their life to the fullest without the fear of a perpetrator intruding on their lives.

The use of electronic monitoring for offenders in the community has proven to be an effective supervision tool, with more and more jurisdictions worldwide adopting this method for monitoring offenders. The goal of electronic monitoring is to enhance the safety of victims by reducing intervention order breaches through improved enforcement and will see stronger protection measures for the most vulnerable members of our community.

The Marshall Liberal government also introduced legislative reforms, some of which were nation leading. We implemented laws targeting the perpetrators of domestic violence, giving authorities stronger tools to tackle repeat and serious offenders. In addition to introducing a standalone criminal offence of strangulation, legislative reforms, including expansion of the definition of abuse and increased penalties for repeated or violent breaches of intervention orders, were made possible.

The Statutes Amendment (Domestic Violence) Act 2018 came into effect in 2019 and made a number of amendments to prevent and punish domestic and family violence. In the first 12 months of operation of the new laws the number of charges for intervention order breaches reduced by a substantial 13 per cent. Between 31 January 2019 and 30 January 2020, 44 per cent of defendants whose most serious charge was a second or subsequent breach of an intervention order received a custodial penalty.

That is a very brief outline of some of the measures we took. I am also very proud of the safety hubs that we implemented in regional South Australia: 10 safety hubs in various locations, including Berri, Mount Gambier, Mount Barker, Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Whyalla, Port Lincoln, Murray Bridge—and there are probably a couple of others as well that have slipped my memory.

The most common model we used was to call for volunteers in a community-type centre or in the local library, where volunteers were trained up—it was fairly intensive training, I am told—to be able to assist people at the earlier stages, I should say, to seek assistance. I am sure all of these measures have made a difference.

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

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