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Parties promise suite of measures to combat domestic violence

Both Labor and the Liberals have used International Women’s Day to announce their election platforms on domestic violence prevention.

Mar 08, 2018, updated Mar 08, 2018
Premier Jay Weatherill campaigning today. Photo: AAP/David Mariuz

Premier Jay Weatherill campaigning today. Photo: AAP/David Mariuz

Under Labor’s plan, Premier Jay Weatherill would create a new ministry for Family Violence Prevention and introduce 10-days of paid domestic and family violence leave for all South Australians as a minimum employment standard.

The leave would allow women experiencing domestic violence to attend court hearings, move house, or seek advice without having to tap into their personal leave.

Labor has also promised it would regularly publish data on domestic violence, increase penalties for offenders who fail to complete court-ordered rehabilitation and investigate ways to give women over the age of 15 greater access to adult domestic violence services.

The party would provide $1 million to the Women’s Legal Service (SA) on top of extra funding to expand the Domestic Violence Crisis Line’s operations to 24-hours a day.

Weatherill said eliminating family violence would be a “key priority” for a re-elected Labor government.

“As Premier, it is important that I take on board this portfolio so that we can bring together the resources, government and deliver more important reforms in this area,” he said.

“By working closely with the community sector we can reduce the pain inflicted upon too many South Australian women and children.”

Labor’s platform also reaffirms its commitment to trial a domestic violence disclosure scheme whereby people afraid of controlling or violent partners would be able to ask authorities about their criminal history.

The Liberal Party released its full policy on domestic violence today following yesterday’s promise of three new domestic violence centres in metropolitan and country SA.

The Liberals’ policy includes co-locating domestic violence services in ‘Safety Hubs’ across the state, developing a personal protection app, ensuring DV victims are automatically notified about changes to an accused perpetrator’s bail conditions and enforcing more targeted rehabilitation for perpetrators.

Like Labor, the Liberals would provide funding for the Women’s Safety Service Crisis Line to operate 24-hours a day on top of funding for the coalition of Women’s Domestic Violence Services.

A Marshall-led government would also improve data collection and communication across government and non-government sectors.

The Liberals’ policy hints support for the domestic violence disclosure scheme but restricts people’s access to information only in “certain circumstances.”

Marshall said yesterday that a Liberal government would not create a separate ministry for family violence prevention, instead categorising it under the Human Services Minister’s portfolio.

“We’re going away from Labor’s concept of having 58 separate portfolios down to a more manageable 14 and we’re very comfortable with the ones we’ve put forward,” he said.

Shadow Minister for Human Services Michelle Lensink said the Liberal Party’s measures targeted prevention and early intervention.

“[In Australia], one in four women experience intimate partner violence, with one woman killed by her partner or ex-partner almost every week,” she said.

“We must do better and accelerate reform in the domestic violence space.”

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