❓ Ms Collins asks about legislative reforms protecting family violence victims. The Attorney General details the Evidence Bill 2025, highlighting provisions for special witness status and support for victim-survivors, referencing a letter from the Centre for Women's Safety and Wellbeing.
AnsweredQoN 184Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Family and domestic violence—Legislative reform
184. Ms Caitlin Collins to the Attorney General:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's unwavering commitment to keeping the community safe. Can the
Attorney General outline to the house how legislative reforms delivered by this
government are helping to protect and support victims of family violence?
184. Ms Caitlin Collins to the Attorney General:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's unwavering commitment to keeping the community safe. Can the
Attorney General outline to the house how legislative reforms delivered by this
government are helping to protect and support victims of family violence?
AnswerView source ↗
Thank you very much
to the member for Hillarys and her commitment to trying to eradicate the
scourge of family violence. This side of the house takes this issue incredibly
seriously. We were the first government to appoint a Minister for Prevention of
Family and Domestic Violence. We have had three outstanding ministers: the
member for Fremantle, the member for Wanneroo and now the member for Kingsley.
The other night, we passed the Evidence Bill in this house. The contribution
made by all members was quite outstanding. The Evidence Bill, in one aspect, is
a bill that will now make the reading of evidence easier for practitioners, the
judiciary and, as the member for Maylands said, law students. It provides a
uniformity of our evidence laws. Practitioners who work in Westerns Australian
courts—state or federal jurisdiction—can in most cases now use
the one set of evidence laws. However, we have retained those parts of the Evidence Act 1906 that are particularly
advantageous to Western Australia.
The member asked
what measures we have done that support victim-survivors of family and domestic
violence and sexual offences. One of the main provisions of this bill is that
it assists victims of family violence by allowing family violence complainants
to be treated as a special witness in a family violence proceeding in a
criminal court. That then brings in a number of measures that help those
special witnesses. I have a whole list here of what the bill does, but I think
there is no better support for the bill than what I received in a letter from
Alison Evans from the Centre for Women's Safety and Wellbeing. The letter
states:
CWSW warmly welcomes the new Evidence
Bill 2025 which makes significant reforms for family and domestic violence, and
child sexual abuse victim-survivors. In particular we want to emphasise the
importance of the following changes:
� The long overdue prohibition of the Longman direction
� The inclusion of family and domestic violence complainants to
have automatic special witness status
� Extension of expert evidence on family violence matters to civil
proceedings
� Allowance for audio and visually recorded statements to be
admissible as evidence-in-chief for family violence matters
� Strengthening the courts power to make orders in relation to the
questioning of witnesses and behaviour of those questioning witnesses
The member for
Thornlie talked about her experience as a journalist, observing many, many
trials and how some sex abuse survivors were taken through the mill by defence
lawyers. This bill goes to trying to make an environment where people will come
forward to ensure that charges are laid. I will conclude with further comment
from Alison Evans. Her letter goes on to state:
The Centre for Women's Safety and
Wellbeing strongly supports reforms which will prevent further trauma or
re-traumatisation; ensure both the physical and psychological safety and
wellbeing of women and children who have experienced family and domestic
violence and sexual violence and ensure all victim survivors are adequately
supported to give evidence of a high standard. Such reforms will deliver more
just outcomes for victim survivors.
Many provisions in this Bill implement
the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child
Sexual Abuse which are critically important. The removal of the Longman
direction is long overdue, particularly given the prevalence of delays in
reporting sexual assault and/or family and domestic violence this direction
means that the Longman warning actively punishes all complainants in this
category of offence. This Bill will bring WA in line with the rest of Australia
to ensure consistency and best practice.
Thank you
for your commitment to ensuring that reforms for family, domestic and sexual
violence are based on the evidence and with victim-survivors at their
centre.
to the member for Hillarys and her commitment to trying to eradicate the
scourge of family violence. This side of the house takes this issue incredibly
seriously. We were the first government to appoint a Minister for Prevention of
Family and Domestic Violence. We have had three outstanding ministers: the
member for Fremantle, the member for Wanneroo and now the member for Kingsley.
The other night, we passed the Evidence Bill in this house. The contribution
made by all members was quite outstanding. The Evidence Bill, in one aspect, is
a bill that will now make the reading of evidence easier for practitioners, the
judiciary and, as the member for Maylands said, law students. It provides a
uniformity of our evidence laws. Practitioners who work in Westerns Australian
courts—state or federal jurisdiction—can in most cases now use
the one set of evidence laws. However, we have retained those parts of the Evidence Act 1906 that are particularly
advantageous to Western Australia.
The member asked
what measures we have done that support victim-survivors of family and domestic
violence and sexual offences. One of the main provisions of this bill is that
it assists victims of family violence by allowing family violence complainants
to be treated as a special witness in a family violence proceeding in a
criminal court. That then brings in a number of measures that help those
special witnesses. I have a whole list here of what the bill does, but I think
there is no better support for the bill than what I received in a letter from
Alison Evans from the Centre for Women's Safety and Wellbeing. The letter
states:
CWSW warmly welcomes the new Evidence
Bill 2025 which makes significant reforms for family and domestic violence, and
child sexual abuse victim-survivors. In particular we want to emphasise the
importance of the following changes:
� The long overdue prohibition of the Longman direction
� The inclusion of family and domestic violence complainants to
have automatic special witness status
� Extension of expert evidence on family violence matters to civil
proceedings
� Allowance for audio and visually recorded statements to be
admissible as evidence-in-chief for family violence matters
� Strengthening the courts power to make orders in relation to the
questioning of witnesses and behaviour of those questioning witnesses
The member for
Thornlie talked about her experience as a journalist, observing many, many
trials and how some sex abuse survivors were taken through the mill by defence
lawyers. This bill goes to trying to make an environment where people will come
forward to ensure that charges are laid. I will conclude with further comment
from Alison Evans. Her letter goes on to state:
The Centre for Women's Safety and
Wellbeing strongly supports reforms which will prevent further trauma or
re-traumatisation; ensure both the physical and psychological safety and
wellbeing of women and children who have experienced family and domestic
violence and sexual violence and ensure all victim survivors are adequately
supported to give evidence of a high standard. Such reforms will deliver more
just outcomes for victim survivors.
Many provisions in this Bill implement
the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child
Sexual Abuse which are critically important. The removal of the Longman
direction is long overdue, particularly given the prevalence of delays in
reporting sexual assault and/or family and domestic violence this direction
means that the Longman warning actively punishes all complainants in this
category of offence. This Bill will bring WA in line with the rest of Australia
to ensure consistency and best practice.
Thank you
for your commitment to ensuring that reforms for family, domestic and sexual
violence are based on the evidence and with victim-survivors at their
centre.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.