Page 20 - BOL Jul20 Edition

The February 2020 Senate Inquiry into

Domestic Violence: Did it fail?

PART ONE

Following the horrific murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children in February this year,
our Federal Senate referred an inquiry to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee
to report on and grade the efficiency of our current strategies in combating domestic and
family violence, where improvements could be made and how effective we have been as
a country in meeting our targets.

The result? After three months, the report was handed in early and, in a “somewhat
unprecedented” move, the committee failed to hold a single hearing or seek
any submissions from public bodies. Ultimately, the committee noted the
comprehensive work done in the previous inquiries and felt that another
lengthy and wide-ranging one at the present time would be of limited
benefit and divert attention and resources away from front-line services.
In a scathing rebuke, South Australia’s Senator Rex Patrick tore shreds
through the inaction of the committee to advise on whether our current
measures are being implemented effectively. At face value, it might
be easy to agree with Mr Patrick that the February 2020 inquiry was a
colossal waste of time and taxpayer money. But before we all condemn
this committee and label all the Government initiatives as ineffective, it
is important to look at both the statistics and see what work was already
underway before the February 2020 Senate inquiry was commissioned.

While these stories rarely make the front page, in 2010 Australia adopted
a National Plan with the goal of a significant and sustained reduction
in violence against women and their children. Since 2015, we’ve already
looked into how effective our measures have been on multiple occasions
and one as recently as June last year.

Although each State has separate legislation for domestic violence (and
the criminal act of breaching protective orders), there have been significant
improvements championed nationwide. In recent years we’ve seen court
orders now being recognised across state lines, the establishment of a
Minister for Women Cabinet position, greater cooperation between police
agencies, the creation of a specialised Family Violence Court and record levels
of federal funding towards tackling family violence. The public and private
availability of emergency assistance for victims looking to escape violent
situations are also undoubtedly excellent initiatives.

Overall, the focus on early prevention programs such as Queensland’s
‘Stop it at the Start’ ad campaign and positive relationships being taught
in our schools as part of the curriculum have been assessed to be having
a positive effect though it is still early days.

However, the obvious questions remain – how do we measure
progress in this area? Can we be confident the current government-
led initiatives have any chance of success? In part two of this
series we will tackle these questions and more.

Joshua Noble is a Solicitor at Zande Law Solicitors, Suite 7, Norwinn Centre, 15 Discovery
Drive, North Lakes. To contact Joshua for advice, phone 3385 0999.
The information in this article is merely a guide and is not a full explanation of the law. This firm cannot take
responsibility for any action readers take based on this information. When making decisions that could affect
your legal rights, please contact us for professional advice.