Politics,Climate Change and Sundry issues

Politics,Climate Change and Sundry issues
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Wednesday 14 January 2015

QLD ELECTION: The Silence Is Deafening On Policies To Tackle Domestic Violence | newmatilda.com

QLD ELECTION: The Silence Is Deafening On Policies To Tackle Domestic Violence | newmatilda.com

QLD ELECTION: The Silence Is Deafening On Policies To Tackle Domestic Violence



By James Farrell





With
the Sunshine State set to go to the polls on January 31, none of the
parties are talking about one of the big killers of women, writes James
Farrell.




When
Queenslanders get off the beach and start to think about the upcoming
election, there is a long list of issues that might influence their
votes.



Jobs, economy, health, public transport, education, candidates’
personalities, bikies, state debt, the environment… the list goes on,
and on, and on.



One issue that has so far been completely ignored is the rising, and fatal, issue of domestic violence.


Domestic violence was a key policy area for both the Labor and
Liberal parties in the Victorian election, recognising that the death of
women and children in that State was a price too high to pay.



The lack of interest in this issue by our Queensland political
leaders is inexplicable, given that police attend an average of 175
domestic violence incidents every single day.



In 2012-13, QPS data shows that a total of 64,246 domestic violence
occurrences were reported, while 22,890 originating applications were
made for Protection Orders in Queensland Courts.



These numbers are huge, and the impact can be fatal.


In Australia, a woman is hospitalised from domestic violence related injuries every three hours.


The Australian Institute of Criminology reported that 36 per cent of
all homicides take place in a domestic setting and 73 per cent of these
involve a woman being killed by a male partner or former partner.



Each year in Australia, on average 72 women die because of domestic
and family violence, and there were 23 confirmed deaths linked to
domestic and family violence in Queensland in 2011-12.



Rates of death in Queensland by domestic violence are among the
nation’s highest, and the rate of incidents is rising - by an average of
7 per cent each year for the past 10 years, and still going up.



It also takes an economic toll on the State. When lost productivity
and the financial impact on justice, health and social services are
taken into account, KPMG estimates the cost of domestic violence to
Queensland is $111 million per annum.



For every woman whose experience of violence can be prevented there is a cost saving of approximately $20,766.


These statistics, and the horrific personal stories that sit behind
each and every number, demonstrates the great need for new approaches
and for increasing available services to work towards reducing the
incidence of domestic and family violence in Queensland.



So, what  plans do our political candidates have in this important area of social policy?



There is no mention of domestic violence in the LNP’s policies for
this election, and it hasn’t been a major focus since winning the 2012
election.



The Government should be commended for providing funding to Women’s
Legal Service Queensland and establishing the Domestic and Family
Violence Taskforce chaired by Dame Quentin Bryce. But that group isn’t
due to report until February – after the election.



The government-controlled parliamentary inquiry into crime
recommended a large number of actions to address domestic violence –
perhaps the LNP could adopt some of these sensible reforms as policy
positions?



Labor’s policy, released quietly in November 2014, will increase
penalties for domestic violence order breaches; allow evidence of
history of domestic violence; treat domestic violence as an aggravating
factor in sentencing, and ensure victims can access victims’ assistance.



All of these measures focus on the consequences of domestic violence,
and more needs to be done to intervene early to prevent domestic
violence.



Minor parties Katter’s Australia Party and Palmer United have no
policies in this area, while the Greens promise additional resourcing
for police to respond effectively to domestic and family violence,
including increasing the availability and number of Domestic Violence
Liaison Officers to ensure adequate supervision of general duties
officers.



In 2013-14, Queensland’s community legal centres provided almost
5,500 instances of legal advice to clients in the area of family
violence, and provided ongoing casework/representation in over 1,100
matters.



In addition, a large (but immeasurable) number of clients accessing
Queensland community legal centres with other legal problems have
experienced domestic or family violence. With this experience, and
working to support our client communities’ legal needs, we see a number
of areas that need immediate improvement, and that should be adopted by
political parties in the lead-up to the election.



Working with specialist domestic violence services and guided by the
direct experiences of people who have been victims of domestic violence,
the Queensland government should develop a Queensland domestic violence
strategy to reduce domestic and family violence across the state, to be
overseen by a high-level committee of government, service providers,
and people with lived experiences of violence.



A key plank of the strategy should be community education, to reduce violence.


Queensland should also increase specialised training for first
responders, including police and emergency services, and court staff
about domestic and family violence issues.



The current lack of legal assistance available to people attending
Queensland’s domestic violence courts to apply for a domestic violence
order, or respond to an application for an order, results in trauma,
unjust outcomes, and increased system-wide costs (financial and social).



Community legal centres should be resourced to implement a state-wide
domestic violence duty lawyer service, targeted to those people who are
unable to afford a private solicitor, have been refused Legal Aid
assistance and/or may be experiencing economic, social, mental,
cultural, demographic, language or other barriers to accessing the legal
help they need.



Finally, the Domestic and Family Violence Taskforce reports after the
election, so all parties should commit to delivering on the taskforce’s
recommendations.



Domestic violence is a horrific crime with lasting social impacts.
Our politicians must recognise this, and ensure that they commit to
addressing and reducing domestic violence in Queensland.



*James Farrell OAM is director of the Queensland
Association of Independent Legal Services, and a White Ribbon Day
ambassador. @_jamesfarrell



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