Domestic violence in Australia

National Founding and Research

In 1996, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) held a national survey, entitled 'Women's Safety Survey' which provided the first comprehensive national data on all forms of violence against women.

In 1997, John Howard, the prime minister of Australia brought together the heads of all states and territories and acknowledged the domestic violence phenomena across Australia and set to work together to resolve the issue. In the same year, the Commonwealth Government of Australia committed $50 million to test preventive measures and practices to address domestic violence. The program was called 'Partnerships Against Domestic Violence' and was founded until 2003. Along with the said founding, Centrelink started providing emergency crisis payments to women who were victims of domestic violence.

During that same year, the Commonwealth government established the 'Partnerships' programme which provided $157 million for each state and territory for the 'Supported Accommodation Assistance Programme' which provides transitional support and accommodation to homeless people, many of whom are women escaping domestic violence.

The 'Partnerships' programme has sponsored more than 100 projects to explore practices at local, regional and national levels. Those projects included development of competency standards, worker training, research into domestic violence, community awareness products and better coordination systems between police and the justice system. The program also established the 'Australian Domestic Violence Clearinghouse' which gathers research and publications from each state and territory of Australia but also from overseas.

In 1997 - 2001, The National Indigenous Family Violence Grants Programme was initiated by the Commonwealth Government and provided $6 million over the 4 year period. The grant was aimed at helping local indigenous communities to reduce family violence. They were assisted by a mentoring team which provided advice on project management, self-documentation and self-evaluation.

In 2001 the Federal Government established the National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault with funding of $16.5 million over four years and was administered by Office of the Status of Women. In 2004 - 2005, an additional $6.7m was granted to NICSA.

Between August and December 2005, the Australian Bureau of Statistics conducted another Personal Safety Survey and on 21 Aug 2006, ABS released its findings. ABS interviewed 16,400 people in all States and Territories. The release of the survey included comparison to the 1996 Women's Safety Survey. The survey revealed that the physical threat dropped significantly from 1996 to 2005.

In March 2009, the Department of Social Services released an economic report entitled 'The Cost of Violence against Women and their Children'. The report revealed that between 2002 and 2003, the cost of domestic violence was estimated at $8.1 billion. The report also revealed the fact that if no action is taken against this phenomena, by 2021 - 2022, the figure will double, amounting to $15.6 billion. The largest contributor being pain, suffering and premature mortality, estimated at $7.5 billion.

In 2014, Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded 95 victims of family and domestic violence-related homicides. With the largest numbers of victims in Victoria (32), followed by New South Wales (30).

In March 2015, the Australian Senate under Finance and Public Administration References Committee issued an interim report regarding domestic violence in Australia. The interim report contained a total of 8 recommendations. The recommendation of 'inclusion of respectful relationships education in the national curriculum' was probably the one that stood out and provided an opportunity to create a positive change, starting with children. The interim report followed, among others, the submission from Australian Women Against Violence Alliance regarding the domestic violence issue. AWAVA conducted its own research into the matter and issued a number of recommendations, including the inclusion of respectful relationships in youth education.

On 24 September 2015, the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, announced a founding of another $100 million for measures to protect victims of domestic violence.

In 2016, the federal government of Australia, announced a 3 year plan for tackling domestic violence entitled 'Family and Domestic Violence Strategy 2016 - 2019'.

New South Wales

On 14 October 2015, Pru Goward, the NSW Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, stated that the government would provide a $60m package to tackle some of the most serious domestic violence problems. From those, $15m will fund 6 domestic violence 'High Risk Offender Teams', $4.1m for 24 new domestic violence liaison officers, $19.5m into mandated perpetrator behaviour change programs to provide treatment for offenders (to treat them just like those for drug or alcohol addictions). Another $20m will be spent for increasing the housing for those affected, $2.3m for police partnerships with other organisations and $1.3m over 4 years to increase the numbers of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners in rural areas.

Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme

In March 2015, New South Wales Premier Mike Baird announced a pilot of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) an adaptation of Clare's Law which was seen as a success in the United Kingdom.

Through the scheme, victims are given the option to seek out information about his/her partner regarding any history of domestic violence. In the future, the scheme could also be extended to friends and family members who may have concerns about the affected person's partner.

The DVDS is being piloted in four NSW Police Force Areas:

Person at risk application

From the beginnings of the scheme and public enquiry into the matter, a "right to ask" model has been proposed, such as that in the UK.

In the current form of the scheme, only a person of 16 years of age or older can make an application. Indifferent of the domestic partner's criminal history, the disclosure, it will be made within 2 weeks from the date of the application and will be made in person by a police officer assisted by a social worker.

Information disclosed include relevant convictions of family violence, other serious convictions such as sexual offences, child abuse offences or murder and the date of conviction (case by case).

Third party application

A third party to a relationship can make an application of disclosure, similar to that of a person at risk application. The third party must be a family member, friend or a professional that has ongoing relationship with the person who may be at risk.

Police will disclose the information to the person at risk only, within two weeks of the application, in the presence of a specialist social worker. The third party who has made the application, can be present at the disclosure, provided that he or she is invited by the person at risk for whom the application was made.

Victoria

Victoria has been at the forefront of family violence policy development and reform in Australia for the past 15 years and has been influential in propelling reforms in other Australian and international jurisdictions.

In 2002, the Victorian Law Reform Commission's review of family violence laws sparked a number of changes in Victoria. The Law Reform Commission was part of the 2005 integrated service system developed by the Victorian government. Among those, the Magistrates Court of Victoria introduced a specialist Family Violence Court Division, integrated family violence support services, Magistrates’ Court Family Violence Taskforce and released its own paper entitled Response to Family Violence 2015–2017.

In 2008, in Victoria, the government introduced new laws to tackle family violence. As such, the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 was adopted and, for the first time, broad family, past relationships and 'family-like' relationships are included in the law.

Family Violence Protection Act 2008 states:

Family violence is any behaviour that in any way controls or dominates a family member and causes them to feel fear for their own, or other family member's safety or well-being. It can include physical, sexual, psychological, emotional or economic abuse and any behaviour that causes a child to hear, witness, or otherwise be exposed to the effects of that behaviour.

The Act also recognises that violence also occurs in gay and lesbian relationships at similar levels to heterosexual relationships, although some forms of abuse are unique for people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex. In 2016, following a Royal Commission into Family Violence, the Victorian government committed $572m to tackle the problem. Among others, the premier Daniel Andrews stated:

"We'll overhaul our broken support system from the bottom up"

The premier also stated that in 2015, 37 Victorians had been murdered by a family member:

"We failed every single one of them."

"It's Australia's number one law and order issue but it's taken us too long to admit it."

In the 2015 - 2016 Victorian budget, the government provided $81.3 million to support the work of the Royal Commission into Family Violence. In addition to the direct family violence found insertion, a further $257 million was provided to child protection services and $48.1 to Child FIRST to improve early intervention.

Statistics

Victoria Police Crime Statistics Official release regarding the family violence incidents.

2015 - 2016 Royal Commission into Family Violence

In the wake of a series of family violence related deaths in Victoria, most notably the death of 11 year old Luke Batty, who was killed by his father on 12 February 2014, a Royal Commission into Family Violence was ordered by the government of Victoria.

On 22 February 2015, the Governor of Victoria, Alex Chernov, signed the letters patent appointing former Justice Marcia Neave as Commissioner and Patricia Faulkner and Tony Nicholson as Deputy Commissioners to the Royal Commission into Family Violence.

On 29 March 2016, after 13 months and 25 days of hearings, the Royal Commission provided its report and recommendations to the government. The released report consists of 8 volumes and contains 227 recommendations, directed at improving the foundations of the current system.

Future response

Royal Commission found a strong foundation for future response, which included

Identified gaps

The Commission found a number of limitations in the current system which included:

Victoria Police

In response to the recommendations of the Victoria Police Violence Against Women Review, in August 2004, Victoria Police developed a Code of Practice which has since suffered a number of revisions in accordance with modified legislation, new procedures or change of the policing environment. Currently, Victoria Police has compulsory action for any reported family violence incident and must act in all circumstances.

Victoria Police regards family violence as extremely serious and has a pro-charge code of practice. The organisation sees the nature of violence in family relationships as particularly insidious because it is an abuse of trust. There is often a continuing threat to the victim’s safety or to their life, or the lives of their children and sometimes to extended family members.

Police may receive reports of family violence direct from the affected family member or members of their family, including children, or from a friend, neighbour, members of the public, anonymous person or from another agency. The report may be made by telephone, in person at a police station or by any other means. Police may also detect family violence in the course of their normal duties.

Since the Code of Practice has been drafted, police must respond as a priority (unless it is clear that the report relates to a past incident and there is no risk of imminent danger or the person is seeking advice only) and take action on any family violence incident reported to them, regardless of who made the report or how it was made. The action taken is based on risk assessment and risk management, regardless of whether the affected family member makes a verbal complaint or written statement.

In 2011, Victoria Police launched its an enhanced Family Violence Service Delivery Model and established specialist family violence teams across the state, mostly in high-demand locations.

In 2015, Victoria Police established a Family Violence Command as a central point for family violence within Victoria Police. It is the first police force in Australia to do so.

Victoria Police's new powers

The Victorian government, in a bid to tackle family violence, gave police officers new powers, such as: holding powers, non-criminal options if there is not enough evidence to charge the respondent, seizure of firearms and other weapons, entry to premises and search of persons.

Mandatory action by Victoria Police

The new Code of Practice set out new mandatory action by Victorian Police officers responding to family violence:

Queensland

In 2012 the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act was amended to reflect contemporary understandings of domestic and family violence. Examples of relationships that fall under the new act are same-sex relationships and "one-night stands" where a child is produced.

Tasmania

Tasmania operates under Family Violence Act 2004, which was adopted on 17 December 2004. The Act refers only to the context of a spouse or partner relationship.

Family Violence Act 2004, as opposed to the national Family Law Act 1975 and other states such as Victoria where family violence has a broader meaning, Tasmanian government elected to strictly define family violence criminally, economically and emotional.

In 2003 the Tasmanian government released 'Options Paper Safe at Home: A Criminal Justice Framework for Responding to Family Violence in Tasmania' . Its aim was to provide a framework for the discussion of legislative and justice related service delivery options. Before this, in Tasmania the term 'family violence' or 'domestic violence' was not defined in legislation. The term 'family violence' has been preferred to the other. The paper analysed actions and legislation of the other states and has set the standards for the action against family violence in Tasmania.

In October 2013, Tasmanian Police stated that the family violence incidents in Tasmania were on a decreasing trend for the past several years. However, in 2015, since Rosie Batty's case and the increased awareness of domestic violence, Tasmania Police revealed that the numbers are quite high with more than 50 new cases each week, Tasmanian Police Commissioner Darren Hine stating "It's quite a horrific figure". In May 2016, Commissioner Hine stated that 400 more incidents were reported compared with the same period of 2015, stating that's 20% increase from previous year whilst there are still between 40% and 80% family violence incidents not being reported.

On 31 August 2015, the government of Tasmania released 'Safe Homes, Safe Families: Tasmania’s Family Violence Action Plan 2015-2020 (Safe Homes, Safe Families)' program to tackle family violence. Through this plan, the government committed an additional $25.57 million over 4 years.

Tasmanian Police powers

Police have various powers under the Justices Act 1959 and the Police Offences Act 1935 to respond to family violence situations. The adopted Tasmanian act, Family Violence Act 2004 gave Tasmanian Police new powers to deal with family violence, such as: entering private property, arresting perpetrators for issuing family violence orders and search of person and premises.

Under the Tasmanian law, a police officer is authorised to enter and remain on premises without warrant and use force to prevent family violence at the request of the person who apparently resides on the premises. The police officer can also enter premises if he or she reasonably suspects that family violence is being, has been, or is likely to be committed on those premises.

Australian Capital Territory

In 1997, the Domestic Violence Prevention Council (DVPC) was established under the Domestic Violence Agencies Act 1986 as an independent statutory body. ACT Policing is a member of DVPC.

In October 2015, in a bid to tackle the family violence, the ACT Policing launched the Family Violence Coordination Unit.

In 2016, the ACT government reviewed the level of domestic violence response by different agencies and in June 2016, the ACT government accepted all the findings, and released a report entitled 'Response to Family Violence'. In the released report, among others, the ACT government pledged a Family Violence Statement to the Legislative Assembly every year and a $21.47 million package over 4 years.

Under the same commitment, the ACT government acknowledged the fact that the emotional, physical and financial abuse were not part of the Domestic Violence Agencies Act 1986 and the victims were not protected from such abuse. However, the government pledged to change the Act and to better protect the victims.

With the 2016 - 2017 budget, the ACT government set a new precedent in Australia when it introduced an annual $30 domestic violence levy on all households. The Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, soon followed with a statement stating that he is considering a similar measure in Victoria.

ACT Police Powers

Sections 156A - 165 of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 define the ACT police powers. Among them, ACT police officers have (for the purpose of preventing family violence) the power to enter private premises without warrant and search and seize firearms.

South Australia

In South Australia, the domestic violence is defined and regulated by The Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 which replaced the Domestic Violence Act 1994.

Under the Act, the meaning of abuse either domestic or non‑domestic, includes physical, sexual, emotional, psychological or economic abuse. This includes damaging the property or possession of the person or property enjoyed by the person, unreasonable denial of financial, social or personal autonomy.

On 22 March 2011, Zahra Abrahimzadeh died after being stabbed repeatedly by her husband. A coronial inquest initiated by the state coroner and 10 recommendations were issued. Normally, the coroner would issue recommendations to the SAPOL Commissioner of Police, however, in this instance, the coroner issued to findings to the premier of South Australia which in turn would bring it to the attention of the Commissioner of Police. A direct consequence of the coroner's recommendations, the Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service (WDVCAS) was launched in 2015, which provides free legal advice and it is funded by the Victims of Crime levy.

In South Australia, between 2014 and 2015, the crime figures fell to 2010 levels whilst the domestic violence incidents increased by 8%, from 6720 in 2014 to 7740 in 2015.

On 12 April 2016, the South Parliamentary Committee issued a report into the domestic violence problem in South Australia. With it, the committee also issued 35 recommendations to help the government tackle the problem. As most of the other states in Australia did, the committee's recommended that more funding for crisis accommodation to be provided, consistency of intervention orders to protect the victim across the state borders and provide more education for magistrates and GPs to deal with the victims of domestic violence.

On behalf of the South Australian community, the Attorney-General of South Australia also issued 8 discussion papers relating to domestic violence.

As part of the National Domestic Violence Order Scheme, the government of South Australia, provided $1.3m to SA police to implement a system to share information on domestic violence orders with other jurisdictions of Australia.

SA Police powers

By comparison to the other Australian states, the SAPOL has fewer powers in dealing with domestic violence. As such, SA police officers cannot enter private premises to search for weapons without a warrant or without the request to surrender any weapons specified in the domestic violence intervention order.

SA police officers can detain a person suspected of breaching a domestic violence intervention order, for up to 6 hours and must apply for a court order for an extension, up to maximum 24 hours.