Page 674 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 23 March 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
In concluding, Madam Speaker, I am sure that the Government is aware of a report that has only just been brought down in New South Wales on abuse of older people in their homes. This is just another aspect of the problem. It is an extension of this report that has been published within three months of the first one. Collectively those reports raise major issues that government has to address. I believe that there is, clearly, an urgent demand for action by this Government to deal with the cultural acceptance of domestic violence and to attempt an attitudinal change about that; to eliminate or significantly reduce at least the causes of domestic violence and to provide help for the victims of violence and, in fact, for those who inflict it as well.
MRS CARNELL (8.28): Madam Speaker, I too am pleased to address the ACT Community Law Reform Committee discussion paper on domestic violence, and I commend them on a very useful and very thoughtful paper. I am also pleased that it was decided that this paper should not address child abuse, as I believe that child abuse is an important issue in its own right and should be dealt with separately.
There are a number of points I would like to raise. The matter of domestic violence and its impact is an issue that requires detailed and considered action. Action should not only address the problems of after the fact but, hopefully, assist in preventing the continued escalation of current trends. The discussion paper does have a tendency towards addressing the issue after the event rather than to assist in preventative measures, but that is very much because of the way it was structured. I accept that. I do not for a moment suggest that all domestic violence can be prevented, but I believe that much of it may be averted with appropriate community response and, as Mr Kaine rightly put it, education is very important.
As mentioned in the discussion paper, the full extent of the horror of this type of violence is not known because so many women still fail to report the instances. Domestic violence legislation has been in place in the ACT for six years now, but it would appear that the incidence of domestic violence continues to increase. Unfortunately, both locally and nationally, the tragedy of this terrible violence is reported in our media almost daily, and locally I am sure that the tragic outcomes of the Gallagher and Bush cases are still clear in all of our minds. Obviously, our current system is just not achieving enough.
Sadly, the attitude of many in the community not only fails to recognise that violence towards your partner is unacceptable but in fact, in some cases, accepts the violence as a way of life. I think Ms Szuty, Mr Kaine and Ms Follett have rightly spoken about issues where this is the case. It is a criminal act and it should be treated as such. The attitudes that I mentioned are mirrored in the paper very well, I think, on page 8 and in many other places in the report. This attitude was also carried through in the ABC series Without Consent, where the prejudice, even in sentences for rape offenders and those in domestic situations, was all too clear.
Law and legislation is only part of a complex equation needed to deal with domestic violence. It is an equation where the solutions are varied. Counselling may be one such solution. Part of the counselling question may be the introduction of pre-violence counselling. There have been many times in the ACT when the wait for marriage guidance counselling has been up to eight weeks, and sometimes even in excess of that. I would have thought that, if a couple had a problem which may cause violence, then waiting for eight weeks
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .