Page 3177 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 12 September 1990
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time after that, in April, following a review of all the products of the seven squandered months of Labor in government.
Certainly, I am happy, and I cannot be churlish about it, that the Labor Party has chosen to support this important development of the law. On the question of protection of persons not residing together, the Government is reviewing its legislation governing the "keep the peace" aspects that Ms Follett mentioned.
Ms Follett talked about delay. The fact is that the Government quite properly wrote to the Law Society on 27 June 1990, after the Bill was tabled, seeking any further comments which it might have wished to make, since it had contributed during the processes of the Criminal Law Consultative Committee.
The Law Society responded on 31 August this year, and made a number of interesting and pertinent comments. Some of these may subsequently be followed up, but one of them is outside the constitutional powers of the Territory - that is, that appeals from domestic violence orders should lie to the Family Court, rather than the Supreme Court.
These are matters that we can work through, but clearly the legislation has the support of the community and the professionals involved in it. On the question of the professionals being involved in it, it is well known that I have had a long personal involvement in the area of domestic violence protection for women and my colleague Mr Humphries has also had some practice in this area.
Mr Speaker, the remarks of the Leader of the Opposition were churlish in the extreme and unpleasant, and when she forwards her set piece speech to the community - if it has not already gone out, because she is not in the chamber - I trust that those refuges and those good workers in this area will note that there is no substance in her allegation that I, personally, have failed to give proper attention to these issues. The Government stands on its record. This is legislation that is part of an ongoing flux of legislative change affecting the Domestic Violence Act. We have, as a Territory, the leading legislation in this country. It is a source of considerable pride to me as we go to State Attorneys meetings and other meetings around Australia that we are questioned and asked about how our domestic violence laws work. We are streets ahead of other States who still rely on injunctions and the like.
All involved in this process, particularly the criminal law consultative process, and the lawyers, the community groups, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service and the police, are to be congratulated for bringing this Bill ahead. I particularly congratulate Ms McGregor of the Domestic Violence Crisis Service for putting on an excellent forum at Olims Hotel some months ago. I regret that the Leader of the Opposition is so myopic as to
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