The ACT has joined all State and Territories and the Commonwealth in committing to end the national crisis of violence against women and children in a generation.
The ACT has agreed to the priorities for all Governments set out in the National Cabinet discussion, including:
- Strengthening accountability and consequences for perpetrators, including early intervention with high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders and best practice justice response that support people who have experienced violence.
- Strengthening and building on prevention work through targeted, evidence-based approaches.
- Maintaining a focus on missing and murdered First Nations women and children and the impact of domestic and family violence in First Nations communities.
We welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to deliver the Leaving Violence Payment, as a crucial support mechanism to allow victims to escape violent perpetrators. Additional Commonwealth commitments to tackle factors that exacerbate violence against women and misogynistic content targeting children and young people are also important steps to tackle concerning behaviours being exhibited by some young men.
The ACT, through the Attorney-General and the Minister for Police and Crime Prevention will be involved in national efforts to enhance criminal justice and police responses to prevent homicides. This includes a review of police responses to high risk and serial perpetrators and improved information sharing about violent perpetrators across jurisdictions.
As part of this work, the ACT will work towards developing greater consistency across State and Territory borders in efforts to target serial offenders. The ACT is currently preparing for the introduction of electronic monitoring of violent perpetrators in the Territory.
The National Cabinet also noted the importance of housing reforms in supporting women and children escaping violence, and we look forward to working with the Commonwealth through the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA).
A national ANROWS survey estimated that 42 per cent of women in the ACT have experienced violence in their lives since the age of 15, whether it be physical and/or sexual.
Over the past decade, the Government has worked in partnership with the domestic, family and sexual violence sector to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. The establishment of the Safer Families Levy provides a critical funding source for the Government to provide ongoing support to the sector, and to fund preventative approaches that have been rolled out across the Territory.
The Government continuously reviews our criminal justice framework in response to emerging trends and behaviours. The Government will continue to listen and respond to the experts, including the family, domestic and sexual violence sector and ACT Policing, to maintain a supportive criminal justice system for victims.
