- New taskforce to bolster State's efforts to
address family and domestic violence
- Government to establish lived experience
advisory group
- Firearms reforms to remove guns from the hands
of perpetrators
- Cook Government to progress important initiatives
to support victim-survivors and address family and domestic violence
The Cook Government has
announced a special taskforce to help guide the next phase of the State's efforts
to address family and domestic violence (FDV), building on the Government's ongoing
work and more than $200 million of investment.
The taskforce was a key
request from the recent family and domestic violence forum, and will consider and
advise Government on other priorities put forward at the forum. This is in
addition to examining broader system reform to improve victim-survivor safety
and perpetrator accountability.
The taskforce will be
co-chaired by Professor Colleen Hayward AM - a senior Noongar woman and former
ambassador for the Commissioner for Children and Young People - and Department
of Premier and Cabinet Director General Emily Roper.
The taskforce will be
time-limited, initially for six months, to focus on delivering results.
The Cook Government has also
committed to establishing a lived experience advisory group, to provide an
ongoing voice for those with lived experience to help shape policies relating
to family and domestic violence.
The taskforce will start
work on establishing this important group, which was another key request from
the family and domestic violence forum.
In addition to these measures, the Cook Government
has today announced it will take guns out of the hands of family and domestic
violence perpetrators as part of its historic rewrite of the Firearms Act,
which is currently underway.
Proposed changes to the Firearms Act will
include Mandatory Disqualifying Offences, which prohibit serious violent
offenders, like family and domestic violence perpetrators, from holding or
retaining a firearm licence, improving safety for victim-survivors and the
public more broadly.
This goes further than changes made in 2020, which
prevented declared serial family violence offenders from owning firearms.
Mandatory Disqualifying
Offence laws will be applied retrospectively - meaning firearm licence holders
who have previously been convicted of a serious offence, will have a
disqualifying period imposed on them and their firearms licence could be
revoked.
Since 2017, the State
Government has invested more than $200 million to address family and domestic
violence.
Important measures have
included:
- The first
dedicated Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Ministerial portfolio;
- Significant
legal reforms, including automatic recognition of Violence Restraining Orders
from other States, a new stand-alone offence for non-fatal strangulation, enabling
people with multiple FDV offences to be declared 'serial family violence
offenders' and tenancy reforms to support victim-survivors;
- Opening
two new women's refuges in Peel and Kwinana;
- Opening
the State's first one-stop hubs in Mirrabooka and Kalgoorlie, with work on hubs
in Armadale and Broome underway;
- Creating
two new men's perpetrator programs in Maylands and Port Hedland;
- Establishing
the RSPCA pets in crisis program for people who leave their homes because of
FDV;
- Subsidising
driving lessons to support economic independence of victim-survivors;
- Delivering
two rapid re-housing pilots for women and children exiting refuges;
- Delivering
a new specialist FDV counselling program for children and young people;
- Funding
first responder training in family and domestic violence;
- Improved ante-natal screening for family and
domestic violence; and
- Trialling a forensic FDV service to improve chances
of prosecuting perpetrators.
This month, interim
support services for
victim-survivors in Perth's south-eastern suburbs have started in preparation
for the full delivery of the Armadale One Stop Hub - a $14.7
million election commitment.
The interim service, known as the South East FDV Healing
Service, will provide a range of holistic support services including group and
one-to-one counselling, legal information sessions and men's outreach services.
In addition, the Hub's interim service will create
referral pathways from local agencies, including WA Police, so people
experiencing family and domestic violence can be connected with specialist
support.
Hope Community Services, Yorgum Healing
Services Aboriginal Corporation are delivering the Hub service.
This week the Cook Government has
allocated funding enabling the expansion of the Keeping Women Safe
in their Home Program to new locations in the
Kimberley and Great Southern regions. This initiative is funded by the
Australian Government Department of Social Services.
The program is
designed to undertake risk assessments, safety planning and security upgrades
for people experiencing family and domestic violence so that they can safely
stay in their own homes.
Anglicare WA will
implement the program in Katanning and the surrounding towns of Cranbrook,
Tambellup, Kojonup, Dumbleyung, Gnowangerup, and Jerramungup. The Marninwarntikura Women's Resource Centre Aboriginal Corporation will
deliver the program in Fitzroy Crossing and surrounding communities.
The State
Government has also today released a joint Statement of Intent with the
non-Government school sector on a shared approach to respectful relationships
and consent education in schools across the State.
The Statement of Intent,
signed off by the WA Department of Education, the Association of Independent
Schools Western Australia, and Catholic Education Western Australia, outlines a
commitment between Government and non-Government schools to equip young people
with the skills they need to develop healthy relationships.
The
State Government introduced the Respectful Relationships Teaching Support
Program in 2017 and has been expanding the program across public schools since
2021.
Comments attributed to Premier Roger Cook:
"I'm proud that our
Government has delivered important programs, investment and reforms over the
past six years to address the scourge of family and domestic violence.
"But we know there is
always more to do to support victim-survivors and hold perpetrators to account.
"The family and domestic
violence summit was an important opportunity for those with lived experience to
have their voices heard, and to put forward their priorities for Government.
"We listened, and we're
acting. This taskforce will help to guide the next steps in addressing family
and domestic violence, while the lived experience group will ensure the voices
of victim-survivors, and the families of those we've lost, will always be
front-and-centre in policy-making."
Comments attributed to Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence
Minister Sabine Winton:
"I
am pleased to announce the taskforce and advisory group in direct response to
the top two priorities put forward at the family and domestic violence summit.
"One of the
first actions the task force will undertake is establishing a Lived Experience
Advisory Group, placing the experience and voices of victim survivors at the
centre of policy and service design.
"We will
continue to work proactively with the sector to elevate access to services and
responses aligned to Path to Safety: Western Australia's strategy to
reduce family and domestic violence 2020-2030 and the Aboriginal Family Safety
Strategy 2022-2032 released late last year.
"I
look forward to working with the taskforce co-chairs to finalise the make-up of
the taskforce so their important work can get underway this month."
Comments attributed to Police Minister Paul Papalia:
"Mandatory disqualifying
offences will disarm people, like serious domestic violence offenders, who have
shown they are not fit to have a firearms licence.
"The new laws will be
applied retrospectively, meaning when they come into effect, they will have an
immediate impact.
"The Cook Labor
Government continues to look for ways to enhance WA Police Force powers to help
officers crackdown on cowardly domestic violence offenders."
