Today, the Royal Commission into Family Violence delivers its findings from a 13-month investigation into the domestic and family violence epidemic in Australia, delivering a 1,900-page report that collates the testimony from 220 victims.
The Royal Commission, and subsequent report, is a big deal. A really, really big deal.
The findings gathered by the Commission are wide-ranging, and monumentally damning of Australia’s current system of support and DV victims, and enforcement of laws on DV perpetrators. It makes a number of sweeping recommendations.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has today announced that Victoria will not only heed the advice of the Commission’s report, but that his State Government will implement all the recommended changes. This amounts to, in simple terms, a complete top-to-bottom overhaul of Victoria’s domestic violence laws, support networks, and legislative policies.
In a post to his Facebook page, Andrews laments the amount of time it’s taken for the nation to wake up to the issue that he labels “Australia’s number one law and order issue,” which has carried with it numbers that are “staggering,” and a tragic human cost that is “unacceptable.”
It’s time to change it all.
Posted by Daniel Andrews on Tuesday, 29 March 2016
The changes recommended by the report, and will be subsequently adopted by Victoria, includes the following:
- Establishment of highly visible, one-stop “support and safety” hubs
- Amending laws to prioritise victim safety over privacy and allow the sharing of vital information amongst crisis support networks.
- Rental and mortgage support for victims who are financially trapped in abusive relationships.
- Electronic police monitoring for people in known crisis situations.
- Immediate rehousing for women and children trapped in crisis or short-term accomodation.
- Increased monitoring on known repeat-perpetrators across the state, particularly in regional areas, with specialist panels set up to assess risk.
- All family violence matters to be heard by expanded specialist courts within five years.
- Increased counselling and support for children, and automatic inclusion on intervention orders.
- Increased resources for all Victorian hospitals, and mandatory DV screenings at all antenatal appointments.
- Family Violence Agency to act as a watchdog and hold Government to account.
- Immediate extra funding, using the $22.5million leftover from the Commission’s funding as a kick-start.
- Better training for police to improve their understanding of family violence.
- Better training for all public personnel across hospitals, schools, and expansion of respectful relationships in schools.
- Establishment of a state-wide, culturally-appropriate support system to combat DV in Indigenous communities.
- Accountability for local councils, who will be required to report to state officials on measures being implemented on a local level.
In implementing all of these recommendations, plus more, Andrews stated that Victoria will not only be a national leader, but a world leader in tackling the out-of-control issue of Domestic Violence.
Source: Facebook, The Age.
