Page 3173 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 12 September 1990
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relationships, and we support these changes. The changes still leave one potential loophole in the law. During consultations on the Bill, one of the women's refuges has raised the problem of violence between people who are involved in a relationship but who do not necessarily live together. I recognise that there are complications about extending the scope of this law beyond domestic relationships, and that "keep the peace" orders are also available. The difficulty with this is that the system for "keep the peace" orders is not as streamlined, and involves the public exposure of possibly sordid details. I will be examining the options for dealing with this situation, and ask that the Government do the same.
The second major change concerns the ability of children to seek a domestic violence protection order. The original ordinance made it necessary for a child to seek the assistance of others to apply for a protection order. Given that there will be occasions where the child is estranged from both parents and does not have a legal guardian, it is sensible to allow the child to seek protection in his or her own right and to provide relevant legal assistance. I am pleased to see that the Bill includes such provisions.
The remaining provisions in the Bill largely relate to clarifying or improving the administration of the existing Act; and I do not propose to go into the detail of that. I do wish to raise, however, the question of the time that it has taken to implement these changes. Following self-government last year, I took up these amendments and initiated drafting work. A first draft was prepared just before Labor left government last December. I regret to say that this is another area where Mr Collaery has dragged the chain with repeated promises of action which he has failed to deliver. At the start of April he promised, at the domestic violence legal forum, that he would take recommendations to Cabinet the following week, and in fact he did not. As a result of this Bill, and in other areas like human rights, he is now known in the community as "Gunna Bernard". He is called "Gunna" because he is always "gunna" do something but he never does; all we ever hear is promises. The remarkable fact about this Bill is that aside from minor drafting changes it contains exactly the same provisions as the draft which was ready eight and a half months before Mr Collaery introduced this. It has been a disgraceful performance from a discredited Attorney-General - one in a series of disgraceful performances.
Mr Speaker, as I have indicated, the Labor Party supports the Bill and we will not take any further time of the Assembly so that the Bill may be passed and implemented immediately.
MS MAHER (4.28): Domestic violence is a widespread problem in the Australian community. Its causes lie, as Ms Follett said, in our society's attitudes to men and women, to violence and to conflict. For too long the problem has
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