Page 1970 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 5 June 2018
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policy design for children and young people impacted by or at risk of domestic and family violence.
The recent report by the AIHW told us that alcohol was involved in about one in three incidents of intimate partner violence and three in 10 incidents of other family violence. Whilst the relationship between alcohol use and domestic and family violence is complex, we have a clear mandate to address the issues together and with access to the best available evidence.
Significant progress has been made in the ACT towards building capacity in the alcohol and other drug sector to better respond to domestic and family violence. Through funding from the safer families package the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association of the ACT, ATODA, developed a suite of Australian-first tools to assess and build capacity among workers and organisations within the specialist alcohol and other drug sector. Launched in the Legislative Assembly in April 2018 the tools developed by ATODA are an important step in the ACT government’s commitment to expand upon pathways to safety for those experiencing domestic and family violence.
A number of the commitments made by the ACT government in 2016 have now been fully implemented. An example of this is the introduction of the Family Violence Act 2016 which saw a broadening of the definition of “family violence” in the ACT to include the full range of coercive, controlling and abusive behaviours. Having now been in operation for over 12 months the government is monitoring the application of the Family Violence Act 2016 to gauge whether it is achieving the changes that were intended.
I have described only a handful of the initiatives taking place across the ACT community to address domestic and family violence. I am pleased to note that the community, including community groups and not-for-profit organisations through to the corporate sector, have taken steps to address domestic and family violence. I would like to acknowledge the contributions made by the community to improve the lives of people affected by domestic and family violence.
There have been significant gains in the last year. However, we are only just getting started. There is still much more to be done to reduce the occurrence and impact of domestic and family violence. The ACT government remains committed to this essential area of reform and looks forward to continued strength of activity and partnerships over the coming years.
I present the following paper:
Safer Families—Annual Statement 2018—Ministerial statement, 5 June 2018.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
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