Hansard debates

Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham – Minister for Jobs and Industry, Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, Minister for Women) (13:50): I rise to speak on the Crimes Amendment (Non-fatal Strangulation) Bill 2023. I am so proud to be able to stand here and speak on this bill off the back of the amazing work that has been done by both the Andrews and Allan Labor governments in the time that we have been in power to reform and tackle the really, really serious issues of family violence, unlike those opposite when they were in power. I asked the question at the time of their minister for police about the rise in figures of family violence in the western suburbs. His response at that time was that family violence was an issue for women, not an issue for police. How disgraceful! That is how far we have come in this state – from having a police minister that thought family violence was an issue just for women rather than an issue for the government. I am really proud that I am part of a government that has implemented the 227 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Family Violence that has changed the face of how women are recognised in this state. We are leading the nation on the national platform when it comes to change in this area, and we have invested $3.7 billion to tackle this issue. That is not to say that we have resolved all of the issues, but I am very confident that there are women out there whose lives have been saved and who have reported for the first time in their lives that may not have reported previously.

I note that there is a social media campaign run by a group of women called Destroy the Joint who keep a national tally of the number of women and children who are murdered due to family violence in this country. Unfortunately that tally sits at 47 today. That is one woman or child per week that has been murdered due to family violence. We want to ensure that all Victorians live in a safe, fair and equal state. That is why I was really proud to launch Our Equal State: Victoria’s Gender Equality Strategy and Action Plan 2023–2027, just a few months ago – 110 strategies to make women more equal, to make this state more equal. It takes a life approach – tackling issues that affect women from childhood, youth and adulthood into old age – because we know that gender inequality impacts women and girls at different stages of their lives.

I was really proud to be able to stand with our regional members just recently, both in Geelong with the members for Geelong, Lara and Bellarine and in Warrnambool with a member for Western Victoria, to launch some regional perspectives on this gender equality strategy, because we know women in the regions face even greater challenges. We made a commitment in our new gender equality strategy to explore options for introducing a standalone non-fatal strangulation offence to address this serious and insidious form of offending that occurs particularly in family violence and particularly behind closed doors. Non-fatal strangulation is highly dangerous and potentially life-threatening. We know that non-fatal strangulation is rarely an isolated incident. It often indicates an escalation of violence and coercion and more controlling behaviour in a family violence context. Women who survive a non-fatal strangulation are seven times more likely to be seriously injured or murdered by their partners. The absence of a standalone offence in Victoria has represented barriers to identifying, reporting and prosecuting this offence.

Addressing the unique risk profile of non-fatal strangulation as an act of family violence has been a key driver for this reform. Can I thank the family of Joy Rowley, who have advocated for this law, and acknowledge their great work. I also want to share the story of a wonderful woman, a warrior in my own electorate, Bianca Ascher. Bianca first contacted me back in 2019. She had created a petition asking for change to the current laws to hold perpetrators to account for all aspects of their family violence crimes, including non-fatal strangulation. She successfully got 3000 signatures on that petition. She herself was a victim over four years of many assaults from her former partner, and some of these assaults included non-fatal strangulation.

In her victim impact statement to court she talked about chronic pain, speech problems, ongoing stress, anxiety, migraines, headaches, back pain and vision impairment caused by the assaults; hypertension; hyperventilation; and scars across her body, hands and internally up her nose due to all of the punches she received. She had facial trauma. She was also almost strangled. She has ongoing depression and anxiety, something that she believes she will have to live with for the rest of her life – post-traumatic stress disorder. Despite this ongoing nightmare of her recovery, she has been an absolute beacon for so many women in the western suburbs to stand up and fight for a change like this one. She put this on my agenda, she put it on the agenda of the federal government and she has not given up. She has done a fantastic job, and I thank her for her courage and for her commitment to standing up for women’s rights.

The Allan Labor government is proud to be delivering on these commitments and this bill and progressing our strong community safety and family violence agenda. The bill will introduce two new offences of intentionally non-fatal strangulation of a family member into the Crimes Act 1958. This is a huge change, because it means offenders can be charged. In the past this was not something that was successfully prosecuted. Whilst those opposite claim that these changes have taken too long, I say that these changes are so significant that we needed to take time in order to make sure that they were right. We now will have a five-year offence under new section 34AE that provides for an offence of non-fatal strangulation committed against a family member, with a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment. A 10-year offence, section 34AD, provides for an offence of non-fatal strangulation committed against a family member which intentionally causes injury and has a maximum penalty rate of 10 years imprisonment.

These reforms will improve the Victorian criminal justice system’s response to the unique risk profile posed by family violence offenders who use non-fatal strangulation as a means of terror and control. When committed as an act of family violence, non-fatal strangulation is an indicator of significant future harm – serious harm and often death. These reforms raise awareness of the dangers and potential lethal outcomes of strangulation. The bill will make amendments to the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 to ensure that non-fatal strangulation is recognised as an act of family violence for the purpose of family violence intervention orders – again, another game changer. Consideration of bail applications and protection of witnesses providing evidence will also be accounted for. It also means the offences will enhance protections for victim-survivors and accountability of offenders by providing a clear indicator to both police and the family violence sector of risks. Laws like this create mechanisms that can become deterrents to criminals and harmful behaviours.

I have said many times in this place that equity and equality are not negotiable. To create a safe and fair state for all Victorians is to create an equal state. I am proud as Minister for Women to stand here today and support another lever to prevent gendered violence and to keep our community safe. We want the girls of today to be empowered to be the women of tomorrow, but they cannot do that if they are not provided with every chance to flourish, thrive and take every opportunity they can. They cannot do this if they are continually living in fear or see some of their family members living in fear. We need to drive out the factors that enable gendered violence and harm to come to those in our community – particularly the most vulnerable, particularly those women and children behind closed doors. I absolutely commend the bill to the house.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.