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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2712 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

This reflects the role of that position in working with agencies to provide support for victims of any crime, including domestic violence. In addition, a subcommittee of the council will be tasked with devising an implementation plan which would take account of the role the report envisaged for a domestic violence project coordinator. In this way, a coordinated approach will be taken to the implementation of the various actions required.

This restructuring of the functions that were proposed for a domestic violence project coordinator will, I believe, facilitate more effective coordination of the strategy, be more structurally sound, and also have the advantage of drawing from an area which is already established. In this regard, Ms Robyn Holder, who was recently appointed to the Office of Victims of Crime, has a great deal of expertise in the area of domestic violence, particularly in multiagency aspects of an effective strategy and implementation plan. I know that Ms Holder will bring enthusiasm and commitment to the task.

One of the roles the committee proposed for a council was the development of a strategy and implementation plan. In view of the immediate need to deal with problems of domestic violence and the necessity to legislate for the establishment of the Domestic Violence Prevention Council, the Government has accepted the Women's Consultative Council's offer to prepare a domestic violence strategy. This strategy will be made available to the Domestic Violence Prevention Council for consideration when that council is established. It will also be able to draw upon the National Strategy on Violence Against Women and the New South Wales and Victorian models which are currently in existence. The Women's Consultative Council input will form a practical foundation for the work of the Domestic Violence Prevention Council. The Chief Minister's Department has agreed to dedicate resources for a full-time administrative assistant to provide research and secretariat support to the proposed council for a 12-month period.

I wish to note that criticism has been directed to the committee's report, specifically for not addressing the needs of Aboriginal and ethnic communities. In this regard, I specifically note the concerns of the ACT Multicultural Consultative Council and the Ethnic Communities Council of the ACT. The committee's report made specific mention of the fact that it was not able to deal separately with the needs and views of these communities. It is important to emphasise that domestic violence is unacceptable and against the law, whatever the cultural, socioeconomic, religious or occupational background of the perpetrators or victims. Nevertheless, I am aware that these issues are of particular concern to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and ethnic communities and organisations, and I will therefore ask that the Domestic Violence Prevention Council take on this issue as an early matter of reference.

There are two recommendations in the report which we are not in a position to implement at this time. These are the offender-perpetrator education program and the bail assessment program. Both of these programs involve special expertise and resources, and it will take a little time before these programs could be up and running. I propose to delay the introduction of perpetrator programs until the review by the Domestic Violence Prevention Council is available, so as to enable better evaluation of existing programs in

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