Page 4207 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 24 October 2018
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amendments to the (3) because whilst I do not want to sit here and pre-empt the outcome of the government’s consideration of this report—and as many of us in this place have our own lived experience with domestic and family violence and sexual assaults, and this is what gives us the impetus to do better—I do want Mrs Kikkert to know that the government is committed to doing our best to ensure that the final response to this report is a whole-of-government commitment and is well considered going forward.
Mrs Kikkert and those opposite will probably know that this work does not occur in just one area of government. Most of the work around domestic and family violence and caring for children occurs across multiple areas of government. Whilst I am sure that the government will respond positively to the recommendations that have been put before us by the DVPC we do need to consider the work that is currently underway, and there may a need for a staggered approach to some of the other recommendations in the report.
Just to recap briefly on the recommendations of this report, they included consulting with children and young people to enhance understanding of children and young people’s needs and preferences in order to assist with designing services and responses; therapeutic services for children and young people to increase the number and availability of therapeutic services for children and young people and improve visibility and referral pathways of services; to reduce trauma and stress for children and young people who are involved in the justice system by establishing intermediaries and additional vulnerable witness measures and to improve sharing of information and evidence regarding children and young people between the ACT and federal courts; training in capacity building to improve domestic and family violence training and capacity for people who are key touchpoints for children and young people; and in data monitoring reporting to improve the data capacity of the ACT government to identify, respond to and monitor children and young people who are at risk of or are exposed to and/or experiencing domestic and family violence.
As I said, importantly some of this work has already started. Again, as the amendment notes, there is a commitment of $100,000 of early money to respond to recommendation 1, and this work will allow the Coordinator-General for Family Safety and the Children and Young People Commissioner to work together to undertake consultation with children and young people to better understand their needs and provide insights to inform and improve responses for children and young people impacted by family violence. Of course, this work will need to be carefully considered but I am confident that the commissioner and the Coordinator-General for Family Safety will be able to do the best work in this area.
I am confident that this process will be dynamic and will be a worthwhile project. I look forward to seeing what it produces. As I found during the future of education consultation, it is absolutely vital to talk to children and young people and obtain new insights into how we can do better in developing policy and programs for the future.
This insight-gathering research project will be the first step in giving children and young people a voice in policy and service design and will generate insights to inform the family safety hub challenge in 2019, which is to co-design and focus on the needs
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