Page 3351 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 12 October 1993
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None of us pretend that there is a single cause for domestic violence or a single solution. The fact is that the causes of domestic violence are many. The general glorification of violence in our society plays a part. Breakdown of domestic relationships because of some of the things we talked about in the previous debate also plays a part. The economic pressure on ordinary Australians has been enormous and continues to be so. In many cases that pressure translates into violence. In at least 90 per cent of cases that domestic violence is against women. The Community Law Reform Committee's research paper identified that by far the largest group of respondents - mostly male - were unemployed. This group accounted for 36 per cent of respondents. It is hard to go past the fact that growing unemployment in our community is causing dramatic increases in the level of domestic violence. The frustration involved in unemployment can lead only to violence by people who have such a disposition. But I think we have to look at domestic violence as part of a much broader pattern of behaviour, much of which is learnt. We hear constantly of men who have been charged with domestic violence having come from domestically violent backgrounds. Obviously, in our society we need desperately to give those men - in some circumstances it may be women - some training, information and direction that will stop the vicious circle of violence.
Among the things I found interesting about this report were some of the comments about prosecutors and the courts and about some of the police involved in domestic violence cases. The report states that courts are sometimes gender biased in the sense that they may blame the victim for not meeting her husband's needs or for provoking the violence; that they accept a husband's testimony in preference to that of a wife; and that they identify the husband as a victimised male. Sometimes victims face indifference or even hostility in the courts. I think that everybody here would suggest that that sort of behaviour, even if it is only on occasions, is totally unacceptable. The report recommends that training those in our courts is one of the bases for improving the situation.
It goes on to make the same comments about police in our system. It suggests that police regularly hold sexist views and that they can be inclined to be anti-victim. I do not think any of us would accept such a situation. This report suggests that there is an urgent need to train police who are involved in the domestic violence area to make sure that in this hugely difficult area they are aware that those sorts of approaches are not acceptable. We have all heard of the well-publicised comments of certain judges in recent times. They are a further indication of the problems that confront women.
This report identifies in its quite lengthy recommendations the need to have information at our disposal. The report goes a long way in suggesting a first step in obtaining information upon which we can build mediation - something we have spoken about already this evening. The report stresses the importance of training our police and people in the Magistrates Court. It also speaks at length about the importance of bringing together all parties to the domestic violence problems - the perpetrators, the victims, the police, the Magistrates Court - to talk through the problems that continue to exist.
I do not have a problem with recommendation 28, but I have to ask a question. It suggests that DVO applications should be able to be made by applicants other than the victim. In essence, I do not disagree with that. I can see that in some circumstances it would be useful for a member of the police force to be able to do that on behalf of a victim. But obviously quite a lot of work would need to be done to make sure just who was able to make application on behalf of a victim,
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