Page 3305 - Week 11 - Thursday, 11 November 2021
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and recommendations from the inquest into the death of Bradyn Dillon. Today I table the government’s response to the coroner’s report.
The death of Bradyn Dillon in 2016 was a tragedy that continues to be deeply felt by his family and many in our community. My thoughts today are with Bradyn’s mother, his sister, his wider family and all those who knew him. As a community, we mourn any death that is the result of family violence and recognise our duty to do more. The ACT government remains absolutely committed to the prevention of domestic and family violence and to protecting the most vulnerable in our community.
The coroner’s report underscores the critical importance of a sharpened focus on systemic reform of the services that protect children and young people in the ACT. For the ACT government, the response to this tragedy began in 2016 and continues today.
The findings and recommendations of the coroner’s report align with the findings from the 2016 Glanfield report, and significant system reform has already been undertaken to address the Glanfield report.
In 2016 the ACT government outlined its commitment to action in the ACT government response to family violence report. Under the leadership of the Deputy Chief Minister, Ms Berry, the government acted to appoint a coordinator-general for family safety, a full-time position to lead change and provide accountability across the service system; implement a collaborative and integrated approach to service redesign and improvement through the Family Safety Hub; build collaborative practices; and further develop a skilled and educated workforce, especially frontline staff, responding to the needs of adults and children experiencing family violence.
The government response provides a comprehensive summary of the many investments, initiatives and changes that have been delivered since 2016. This reform agenda spans all areas of the child protection and domestic and family violence response systems, and the government response outlines this ongoing work, which has driven changes to legislation, policy, practice and culture, training for staff, review of decisions, information sharing, and the interaction between ACT government directorates, agencies and service providers.
These efforts have been supported in every budget, and in the most recent 2021-22 budget, the ACT government invested a further $35.9 million over four years in Safer Families initiatives. This funding expands the ACT government’s evidence-based approach to addressing domestic and family violence. It will support a range of initiatives that strengthen the capacity of frontline services to respond to domestic and family violence, improve coordination across government, build important partnerships with the community sector and test promising new approaches.
The funding included an additional $2.16 million over four years for the Domestic Violence Crisis Service and the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre as primary domestic and family violence responses, in addition to existing baseline funding. A further $4.06 million supported three health justice partnerships. These partnerships integrate
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