Page 3354 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 12 October 1993
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It is clear from this brief outline that the ACT has come a long way in improving its domestic violence laws in the past decade. However, the protection offered to domestic violence survivors is still much less than perfect, and the Government is committed to continuing reform in this area. The Community Law Reform Committee is currently considering the ACT domestic violence laws and how they can be improved. The committee has already done a considerable amount of groundwork with the release of this research paper as well as a comprehensive discussion paper on this issue. The committee has consulted with many areas of the community to find out where the problems are occurring with the legislation and to obtain views on how best they might be overcome. The committee's terms of reference are wide ranging, and it is expected that a report will be released next year. This research paper is a vital part of the committee's reference and will provide a sound and factual basis for its final recommendations.
One more reason why self-government is important is that it allows us to pass domestic violence legislation and give women protection. As the Chief Minister said earlier, one of the most common factors in domestic violence is drink. I am sure that many a person in this house has heard a man say that it does not hurt to give a woman a good belt across the ear. It is sad that such things happen. As has been said by Mrs Carnell and many others in this house, we have all witnessed television coverage of some terrible acts of violence in the last few months. I am not sure that laws can fix everything, but I am quite sure that they can go a long way towards making things a lot better.
MS ELLIS (9.17): Madam Speaker, we have had domestic violence legislation in the ACT since about 1986. Since then we have seen several amendments to that legislation aimed at improving it; but, as a community, I believe, we need to keep this question in front of us and work towards further improvement. Domestic violence is a brutal reality in our society. The greatest tragedy of domestic violence can be the difficulty in detecting it. If statistics show us merely how many cases are reported, it is horrific to imagine how many more remain behind the closed doors of suburbia.
The role of the Domestic Violence Crisis Service, a community service continually supported by this Government, cannot be overstated. A few short years ago I had cause, unfortunately, to seek assistance from the police when a domestic dispute involving a neighbour was under way. The domestic violence people arrived with the police and played an incredibly vital role in what was a rather volatile situation, a potentially dangerous situation. It made me wonder how on earth such incidents were managed prior to the development of domestic violence crisis services in our communities.
A research paper such as the one that we are considering tonight is invaluable. As I have said, we have seen changes to the legislation, and we can expect to see continuing changes to legislation; but, importantly, we are also seeing changes in community attitudes towards domestic violence. I think one of the more difficult jobs for our police would be to respond to domestic violence calls. Some of those calls have the potential to be extremely dangerous. The police will not always know exactly what the situation they are heading into is. When I considered this paper I found the chapter on the survey of police officers very informative.
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