The Federal Senate has been conducting an inquiry into domestic violence in Australia and published its final report and recommendations last week. The 25 recommendations of the final report are mostly based on further research and in principle support, rather than any specific actions or funding of desperately underfunded crisis services.
While it’s absolutely a good thing that the federal government is taking domestic violence seriously, it would be more convincing if they took it seriously enough to recommend action, rather than support for research into the possibility of taking action.
The strongly positive aspect of the final report is that it has tri-partisan support from the Government, Labor and the Greens, but the difference between the actual recommendations and the additional comments from Labor and the Greens is striking.
Both sets of comments are unambiguous about the need to understand domestic violence as a national crisis and act accordingly – and that such action requires funding, both to front line emergency and long-term prevention work. They call on the government to fully restore funding cut in the last budget and add to it significantly for current and future programs.
The two government senators on the committee, Cory Bernardi and Dean Smith, in their additional comments to the report noted only that they did not support family violence leave as a national entitlement, rather that it should be part of enterprise bargaining, and that funding for the government action plan on domestic violence is released to the media and through senate estimates, rather than as a part of the federal budget.
Greens Senator Larissa Waters said in a statement:
Significant compromise was necessary to find recommendations on which all Senators on the Committee could agree.
The powerful evidence gathered through this inquiry clearly showed what the solutions to this national emergency are and how desperately they are needed.
Crucially, we need the Abbott Government to reverse its cuts to homelessness funding and to provide more funding for both these services and long-term affordable housing, with domestic violence the main cause of homelessness in Australia.
As we heard through this inquiry, the solutions are very clear to frontline workers struggling with funding cuts and having to turn women away – what we lack is leadership from our governments.
It’s telling that the compromises required to get government senators on board required stepping back from commitments to provide more funding to frontline services or specific funding for preventative education.
The full report gives harrowing accounts from domestic violence services staff of women in crisis being turned away from shelters and other services because there just weren’t enough places available.
…it is equally important in the short term to increase the response capacity of specialist domestic, family and sexual violence services so that women and children are not, as they currently are, turned away from appropriate supports and protection due to services working to capacity and refuges being full.
The tragic story of Leila Alavi, who was turned away from dozens of women’s shelters in the months before her ex-husband allegedly stabbed her to death, is the most public, but far from the only horrific outcome of the lack of services available to people in need.
The report recognised very clearly that services for people in fear of their lives are not adequate, that funding is needed to assist with better communication and coordination between all the disparate services required by domestic violence victims and that primary prevention, in the form of domestic violence education at school, is a crucial aspect of addressing family violence.
It also clearly recognised that disadvantaged women, Aboriginal women, women with disabilities, women from culturally and linguistically diverse background, and LGTBIQ people are at significantly higher risk of experiencing domestic violence and services therefore need to be targeted and specifically designed to be accessible to those groups.
Senator Claire Moore (ALP), who was on the committee, told Women’s Agenda:
I’m not convinced there needed to be ‘significant compromise’, that’s a bit harsh, to get all parties to sign up there were areas where the government in particular were looking at what they could commit to financially at this stage.
Having government senators sign on means the report has stronger weight with the government because their own senators have signed it.
I share Larissa’s concerns that we haven’t seen anything specific on that yet. The government has listen to significant evidence in the inquiry. The front line services need to have secure funding so they can offer those services into the future. That point is very real. My expectation is that this report is one more pressure point. Government is still concentrating on the plan, but there comes a time when you’re being told that the money is coming that you want to know when and how much.
But I was really pleased with (the report). We have a window of opportunity at the moment to effect some real change here. For years people have been trying to get this on the national agenda, but we haven’t been able to cut through.
These things have a time limit. If we don’t get the changes we need soon, we might miss out. So there is a sense of urgency.
I found Cory Bernardi’s statements in the house yesterday really telling, when he talked about the personal impact it had on him. I attended all the hearings with Cory, I watched the way he was really engaged in the evidence. He was deeply touched by it all. Part of our job is to keep bringing more people into the group who care about this and understand that it is real.
Many of the things we identified in the report were reinforced by the (Victorian) Royal Commission. Daniel Andrews will be implementing the recommendations and we think this will feed back into the whole country. The background, impact, stimulants to violence don’t change when you cross the borders in Australia. Queensland are getting in behind it too.
If we don’t keep up the pressure, any government will be able to put out fluffy pieces without being held account to what are they are doing to give money to shelters, to the courts, to train magistrates, to train police, to provided specialist courts and prove difference they made.
The committee’s interim report was released just before the last budget, and contained recommendations that were much stronger than the final report. They called for the government’s funding cuts to community legal services, housing and homelessness centres to be reversed. Some of those recommendations were implemented, but no further funding was provided in the budget.
Women’s Agenda also approached Cory Bernardi and Michaelia Cash, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, for comment.
Neither senator had time to speak to us before deadline, but they did provide comments on Larissa Waters statement.
From Senator Cash:
We welcome the release of the final report of the Senate Inquiry into Domestic Violence in Australia.
Both the interim report, released on 19 March 2015, and final report of the Committee include a number of important recommendations.
The Commonwealth Government will prepare a full response to both the interim and final reports once it has properly considered both reports in their entirety.
Ensuring the safety of all Australians is a priority for the Government.
The Commonwealth, in partnership with all states and territories, is continuing to drive significant national reforms under the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 (National Plan) to ensure Australian women and their children live free from violence and in safe communities.
In the period 2013 to 2016, the Government is providing more than $100 million to support the Second Action Plan of the National Plan.
The Commonwealth and states and territories are also working together through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). COAG has agreed to take urgent collective action in 2015 to address the unacceptable level of violence against women.
And from Senator Bernardi:
It’s a pity Senator Waters seeks to rewrite history in an attempt to grab some headlines.
The committee inquiry was held in a positive and very co-operative manner with the sole exception being Senator Water’s own attention-seeking.
She appears not to understand that seeking agreement on a report between senators requires compromise and negotiation.
Frankly, her credibility is diminished by her conduct during the hearings and her last ditch efforts to derail a bi-partisan report.
It’s going to be difficult, but not impossible, for the government to continue to ignore the public demand for action on domestic violence. And by ignore, I mean release policy statements that sound great but have very little substance and no real effect on the desperately underfunded services needed by domestic violence victims.
At this stage the Abbott government can only be taken seriously on this issue if it takes clear, decisive, fully funded action. Anything less is just a distraction.