❓ The Attorney General outlines the government's new legislation to combat family and domestic violence, including electronic monitoring of offenders and improved access to restraining orders for victims of coercive control. The legislation has bipartisan support.
AnsweredQoN 422Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FAMILY VIOLENCE LEGISLATION REFORM BILL 2024
422. Dr K. STRATTON to the Attorney General:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's
commitment to tackling the scourge of family and domestic violence.
(1) Can the
Attorney General outline to the house how the government's legislation
introduced to Parliament today will further hold family and domestic violence
perpetrators to account?
(2) Can the
Attorney General advise the house how these laws will also better protect
victims and survivors of family and domestic violence?
422. Dr K. STRATTON to the Attorney General:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's
commitment to tackling the scourge of family and domestic violence.
(1) Can the
Attorney General outline to the house how the government's legislation
introduced to Parliament today will further hold family and domestic violence
perpetrators to account?
(2) Can the
Attorney General advise the house how these laws will also better protect
victims and survivors of family and domestic violence?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for Nedlands for her question on the important subject of the
protection of primarily women and children in domestic violence settings. Today
we have introduced and read into the chamber a
bill that will provide for electronic monitoring to apply to anyone who commits
a family violence offence whilst subject to a violence restraining order
or who is a serial family violence offender who commits a family violence
offence. They will be mandatorily affixed with a GPS tracking device. When a family
violence restraining order is in place, all family violence perpetrators
released from prison, who are on parole or under a post–sentencing
supervision order, which is often put in place at the time the sentence is struck, will be required by the Prisoners
Review Board to wear a GPS tracking device either whilst they are on
parole or under a community supervision order. Similarly, if a person who is
subject to a family violence restraining order is charged with a family
violence offence and pleads not guilty and applies for bail, they will have to
have affixed to them a GPS tracking device.
The bill will make it easier for
victim–survivors to get a restraining order when they are complaining
of coercive control. Coercive control is usually a precursor to more extreme
family violence. It starts with controlling the partner and, when that wears
thin, it escalates into something more pernicious and violent. The Restraining
Orders Act will be amended to make it clear that coercive control is pattern
behaviour. Each individual instance of it
might not be enough to justify a family violence restraining order. I will give an example of a man who does not want his
partner going out and socialising with a certain group of women or
friends. He usually catches public transport to work but, knowing that she is
using the car to go out and socialise, he takes the car to work on that day.
Some might say that is inconvenient or inconsiderate, but a week later he knows
that she has a medical appointment and he decides to take the car on that day. Those little instances build up to control and
coerce the partner into conduct to which the perpetrator wants to
confine her. It will be much easier now for the judiciary to recognise that
pattern behaviour of incidents that are inconvenient or innocuous at first
sight but which, looked at cumulatively—hello, this person is
controlling his partner—ultimately and almost inevitably leads to acts
of violence. It can also be the controlling of finances or there could be
repeated emotional abuse or psychological control of his partner. That can also
lead to a family violence restraining order being made and conferred. It is
very important that this pattern of behaviour is recognised by the judiciary.
I
have already received confirmation from the Leader of the Opposition that the
opposition in this chamber will
facilitate the legislation's early passage; we had an exchange of
letters in that regard some time ago. It is another case, Leader of the Opposition, in which this Parliament will
unite across the aisle, as we did the other
day with dust diseases. We get together and deliver good outcomes for the
people of Western Australia. In this case, we will be delivering further
laws to secure the safety of women and children in our society. I thank the
Leader of the Opposition for his early indication of the opposition's
support.
Once these laws have passed through
this Parliament, they will be the most extensive and toughest laws in Australia
for protecting women and children from the scourge of family violence. Of
course, it will fit in with a lot of other laws we have introduced, such as the
laws I brought in against partial occlusion of airways, and laws providing for
mandatory imprisonment for removing a tracking device. We have now also
introduced a new offence for failing to obey the directions of a community
corrections officer. The direction might be: make sure each night you plug the
device in and charge it up so that it is transmitting. If they do not, there
will be a penalty of a couple of years' imprisonment available to the
courts. I thank the member for Nedlands for her important question.
thank the member for Nedlands for her question on the important subject of the
protection of primarily women and children in domestic violence settings. Today
we have introduced and read into the chamber a
bill that will provide for electronic monitoring to apply to anyone who commits
a family violence offence whilst subject to a violence restraining order
or who is a serial family violence offender who commits a family violence
offence. They will be mandatorily affixed with a GPS tracking device. When a family
violence restraining order is in place, all family violence perpetrators
released from prison, who are on parole or under a post–sentencing
supervision order, which is often put in place at the time the sentence is struck, will be required by the Prisoners
Review Board to wear a GPS tracking device either whilst they are on
parole or under a community supervision order. Similarly, if a person who is
subject to a family violence restraining order is charged with a family
violence offence and pleads not guilty and applies for bail, they will have to
have affixed to them a GPS tracking device.
The bill will make it easier for
victim–survivors to get a restraining order when they are complaining
of coercive control. Coercive control is usually a precursor to more extreme
family violence. It starts with controlling the partner and, when that wears
thin, it escalates into something more pernicious and violent. The Restraining
Orders Act will be amended to make it clear that coercive control is pattern
behaviour. Each individual instance of it
might not be enough to justify a family violence restraining order. I will give an example of a man who does not want his
partner going out and socialising with a certain group of women or
friends. He usually catches public transport to work but, knowing that she is
using the car to go out and socialise, he takes the car to work on that day.
Some might say that is inconvenient or inconsiderate, but a week later he knows
that she has a medical appointment and he decides to take the car on that day. Those little instances build up to control and
coerce the partner into conduct to which the perpetrator wants to
confine her. It will be much easier now for the judiciary to recognise that
pattern behaviour of incidents that are inconvenient or innocuous at first
sight but which, looked at cumulatively—hello, this person is
controlling his partner—ultimately and almost inevitably leads to acts
of violence. It can also be the controlling of finances or there could be
repeated emotional abuse or psychological control of his partner. That can also
lead to a family violence restraining order being made and conferred. It is
very important that this pattern of behaviour is recognised by the judiciary.
I
have already received confirmation from the Leader of the Opposition that the
opposition in this chamber will
facilitate the legislation's early passage; we had an exchange of
letters in that regard some time ago. It is another case, Leader of the Opposition, in which this Parliament will
unite across the aisle, as we did the other
day with dust diseases. We get together and deliver good outcomes for the
people of Western Australia. In this case, we will be delivering further
laws to secure the safety of women and children in our society. I thank the
Leader of the Opposition for his early indication of the opposition's
support.
Once these laws have passed through
this Parliament, they will be the most extensive and toughest laws in Australia
for protecting women and children from the scourge of family violence. Of
course, it will fit in with a lot of other laws we have introduced, such as the
laws I brought in against partial occlusion of airways, and laws providing for
mandatory imprisonment for removing a tracking device. We have now also
introduced a new offence for failing to obey the directions of a community
corrections officer. The direction might be: make sure each night you plug the
device in and charge it up so that it is transmitting. If they do not, there
will be a penalty of a couple of years' imprisonment available to the
courts. I thank the member for Nedlands for her important question.
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