Finally, the Coalition has outlined some plans for addressing domestic and family violence, just over a week from polling day.
But the $90 million package proposed is nowhere near enough to meet the scale of the issue.
It is, however, at least a point for discussion. One that puts the issue on the Coalition’s agenda, following Labour’s announcement on Tuesday — which was also not enough to meet the scale of the problem.
From the Coalition, Sussan Ley, Senator Michaelia Casha and Senator Kerryn Liddle all spoke passionately about the issue during this morning’s press conference in Hobart, as did Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who said that all such violence is “unacceptable”.
They acknowledged the pressure on frontline services, the need for flexibility on leaving violence payments, for new offences and more national coordination.
The $90 million investment outlined includes a national domestic violence offender register for police and related agencies, as well as legislative reform targeting technology-facilitated abuse, fast-tracking simple property settlements for couples separating and measures for addressing financial abuse and bail reform.
These initiatives aim to address, as Katherine Berney writes separately on Women’s Agenda today, several gaps in Australia’s current policy landscape, particularly in relation to the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children.
But the scale of their success is limited, given the small amount of funding outlined. Some of the initiatives also share similarities with existing laws (for example, it is already an offence to use a carriage service to menace or harass someone) and plans already underway by the Albanese Government, including a “warning” system for agencies on individuals with domestic violence convictions crossing state lines. Work is also already underway on toughening bail laws across jurisdictions.
But work underway, isn’t work done. Today’s Coalition plan sharing versions of things already in progress under the Albanese Government could have been strengthened with a clear deadline provided for delivery. It’s disappointing that Labor’s “warning system” and work across jurisdictions has not yet been finalised, while delays in rolling out the 500 frontline services promised by Labor are also worth calling out (as Sussan Ley did this morning).
The Coalition’s announcement comes as both major parties have largely been quiet on the issues of domestic violence and violence against women before this week, despite Dutton calling for a Royal Commission into violence against women late last year and Prime Mininster Anthony Albanese calling the issue a “national crisis.”
Indeed, it’s unfortunate that Dutton and the Coalition waited until today for such an announcement, given the many other opportunities that have come up, including public outcry over multiple women allegedly murdered over one week last week, and given Dutton’s determination to be seen as the prime minister who will keep Australians safe. Today’s announcement comes as early voting is already open and one million people have already voted according to the Australian Electoral Commission.
Still, the issue is being discussed. Finally.
While there were a few questions from reporters on the campaign trail regarding the package, one reporter took the opportunity to ask Dutton about his message to Australian men regarding violence against women.
“Australian men have to be the best role models they can be and we have to provide an example to our children and our sons and we have to ensure we don’t walk past things in our community,” he said.
“We need more conversations about the violence in computer games… which is why we championed the under-16 ban on social media… I want Australian men and women to hear a very clear message from us: we are determined to work in good faith to achieve the best possible outcomes here. The thing that upsets me most is that I think we are going backwards with the advent of social media and violence and normalised sexual violence online through pornography that young boys and others are absorbing and we need a national conversation on that.”
Meanwhile, opening the press conference this morning, Sussan Ley outlines the rates of calls for help declaring, “enough is enough”.
“The scourge of family violence reaches into every cohort of Australian society, and every time we reconnect with new funding, such as we are today, we make the statement that enough is enough,” Ley said.
“Because when you know that women are calling helplines every four minutes, and police are responding to call-outs for domestic violence incidents every six minutes. You can see the scale of the problem. Almost one woman every week is killed by a current or former partner.”
Senator Cash outlined what the new offences in the criminal code will be, including aiming to ensure people can’t use technology to make people fear for safety such as by downloading spyware to track someone, as well as flexibility parameters that will be applied to the $5000 emergency payment for women leaving and escaping violence. She added that they will raise the threshold from $550,000 to $1.5 million for those moving into the priority property pool to help reach a settlement (where there are no issues of children to be determined).
On the proposed National Domestic and Family Violence Register, Senator Cash stated that while what has been proposed will not be publicly available to women, a Dutton Government would be willing to work with the states and territories to consider further disclosure options.
Senator Liddle, meanwhile, spoke about the epidemic of family and sexual violence across Australia, noting an initiative to fund new technology to help address the volume of calls to service lines that are not currently being answered.
“When people finally pick up the phone to someone to ask for help, somebody needs to be there to respond to the call.”
Senator Liddle added that they will also increase the powers of the domestic violence commissioner, including audit powers to look into programs to ensure they are being delivered as intended.
So this week, finally, policy measures for ending domestic and family violence have been discussed with small amounts of funding outlined. But Australians can and should demand more ambition from both major parties and anyone who forms part of the next government.
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 000.
If you need help and advice call 1800Respect on 1800 737 732, Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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