Hansard debates

Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) (18:41:50) — The Royal Commission into Family Violence will be one of the most significant legacies of the Andrews Labor government. I say that without doubt, and I say that beyond partisanship, so I am glad to hear that the opposition is supporting this next raft of reforms as part of the government's commitment to implement all of the 227 recommendations from the royal commission. I am glad to hear that the Greens political party will also be supporting this legislation.

I think that bipartisanship is critical to making the cultural, generational and systemic change that an issue of this magnitude demands. I would like to acknowledge the Attorney-General for his leadership in bringing this bill to the house. I think he summed up its consequences succinctly when he said:

Family violence is pervasive in nature and its impact is profound. The trauma from, and devastating effects of, family violence on the health and wellbeing of victim survivors often remain long after the violence itself ends.

That is a critical proposition — that it does have lasting consequences for the victim survivor and also for children. That is a critical point that I wanted to highlight.

I also want to acknowledge the Minister for Women for all she has done over a long period in driving this change and the leadership that she has shown. It still remains a chilling proposition, and in the house yesterday the minister, during the condolence motion for Eurydice Dixon, reminded everyone again that 30 women have been murdered this year alone. It is devastating. You have to stop and just let that sink in and dwell on the consequences that it has. Some 98 per cent of sexual assaults in Australia are committed by men. She called it: we have a gendered violence crisis in this country, and that was shown with the embrace of 10 000 people going to Princes Park to declare enough is enough. It carried the weight of history and the power of a shared silence. I think that the way in which the media portrayed that will resonate for a long time. I think we are making progress even though we have still these random acts of violence that take young women's lives in the worst possible circumstances.

If we work through this bill, this is the second stage of the justice-related legislative reforms. The first was the Family Violence Protection Amendment Act 2017. The amendments in this bill further strengthen Victoria's efforts to respond to family violence by improving the protection of victim survivors and the accountability of perpetrators for their behaviour, which becomes a critical point.

In my constituency question yesterday to the Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence I raised the issue that the electorate that I represent is really wanting to fast-track how we get all the reforms in Ending Family Violence: Victoria's Plan for Change implemented in my area because they will have a major social impact and they do complement the impact of the government's other law and order strategies. I have made it plain that family violence is the state's biggest law and order issue and we will have to work on this for generations — unfortunately I think that is the reality — and we will have to take different views from different cultures. Like the member for Dandenong, I represent one of the most diverse communities in the state, and we need to actually address each one, its history, what are the issues that surround their perceptions and how we actually make the shift. But of course you have to start with the law and define the issues and define the remedies.

This bill addresses these issues in a number of different ways, from cultural propositions to looking at dowry-related abuse and forced marriage. The royal commission heard that in addition to forms of family violence experienced in all communities, women in some culturally and linguistically diverse communities experience specific forms of family violence, among them dowry-associated violence and forced marriage. The royal commission also heard that these forms of abuse may not be readily recognised as family violence by some within these communities. It will take a big cultural shift to get to the heart of that matter. The royal commission recommended expanding the statutory examples of family violence in the Family Violence Protection Act. That is recommendation 156, and this bill responds directly to that recommendation.

It is important to note that the bill does not make the practice of taking and giving dowry illegal, but merely illustrates, by use of statutory example, that where certain abusive behaviours are used to demand or receive dowry this can constitute family violence. The member for Dandenong went into really pertinent detail about how this actually plays out in reality. That can be the critical difference between what the theory is and what the practice is, and I think that that will be scrutinised severely.

Then we have other issues that we need to look at. This bill is going to establish a specialist Family Violence Court division in the Magistrates Court. The proposition is to enable family violence intervention order applications to be filed online to support the rollout of online applications across Victoria, empower the courts to make interim family violence intervention orders on their own motion during criminal proceedings and amend the Family Violence Protection Act to include dowry-related abuse, as I have mentioned, and forced marriage as statutory examples of family violence. These are wideranging reforms. Two years after the release of the royal commission's final report the bill responds to six of its specific recommendations. What we are also seeing is the establishment of the specialist Family Violence Court division.

We are also looking at what needs to happen with people who have been abused themselves and how we actually address that issue. I think how we address what has happened to children is of significance in looking at the extension of the therapeutic treatment order regime. The royal commission observed that there is a legislative gap in early intervention services for young people aged 15 to 17 with problem sexual behaviours. Currently the therapeutic treatment order regime consists of therapeutic treatment orders which compel a child who is of or above the age of 10 years but under the age of 14 who has exhibited sexually abusive behaviours to attend a therapeutic treatment program. The therapeutic treatment placement orders grant the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services parental responsibility for a child who is on a therapeutic treatment order and provide for a child's voluntary attendance at a therapeutic treatment program when they appear as an accused and the court has not yet made a finding in the criminal proceedings.

I think if you look at the suite of measures here, the way that these issues are being addressed culturally, generationally and systemically is critical. This series of reforms will have to continue over a long period of time. The attitudes towards women obviously are right at the heart of the matter and how we address that in everything from actions to language to the law to what happens on the street and even wedding ceremonies with dowries is important. There is a long way to go but I think this will be one of the most important reforms that this government or any government in the state of Victoria will deliver. I think the bipartisan nature of the support for it is critical. I commend the bill to the house.