Addressing domestic and family violence
What we’ll do
A Marshall Liberal Government will implement a suite of measures to combat Domestic Violence including by addressing the urgent shortage of emergency accommodation across our state – particularly in regional areas.
We will also invest in a number of prevention and early intervention initiatives including:
- Improving service delivery by co-locating services in ‘Safety Hubs’ across our state
- Developing a personal protection app to link at-risk individuals directly to SAPOL and women’s services
- Providing funding for the Women’s Safety Service Crisis hotline to operate 24-hours a day
- Protecting those at risk by ensuring they are automatically notified about changes to an accused perpetrator’s bail conditions, ensuring Intervention Orders breaches are being acted on promptly and introducing tougher penalties for repeated breaches
- Enabling people at risk to seek information about a current or former partner’s violent offending history in certain circumstances
- Ensuring more targeted rehabilitation for Domestic Violence perpetrators
- Improving data collection and communication across government and non-government sectors
- Providing the coalition of Women’s Domestic Violence Services with peak body funding
Within 100 days we will meet with stakeholders to expedite these reforms.
Why we’re doing it
In Australia, one in four women experience intimate partner violence, with one women killed by her partner or ex-partner almost every week.
In South Australia, we are not immune from this problem. Latest figures show that over a 12-month period, 25,029 domestic violence matters were reported. This is three an hour, 69 per day and 480 per week.
ABS data shows that in South Australia, family and domestic violence accounted for almost half the deaths by homicide, which was confirmed in the State Coroner’s Annual Report. This is the second highest rate in the nation behind the Northern Territory.
COAG has made domestic violence a national priority, and other jurisdictions are acting on these priorities. The Weatherill Labor Government has not moved fast enough though in their domestic violence reform. Once again, they are letting down our most vulnerable.