$3b domestic violence effort has failed: report

Aaron PatrickSenior correspondent

Apr 1, 2021 – 3.42pm

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More than $3 billion spent over the past decade on a coordinated national strategy has failed to reduce family, domestic and sexual violence, according to a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry.

In 2009 state and federal officials agreed on a decade-long plan to reduce violence against women and their children, which led to the creation of the Our Watch organisation to prevent domestic violence, the “Stop it at the Start” awareness campaign and national support services such as 1800RESPECT.

On Thursday, Parliament’s standing committee on social policy and legal affairs published a 471-page review of the plan that concluded it had not cut violence within relationships and against children.

“It is clearly not for the want of trying that we as a nation have not reduced these shocking statistics that see the death of one woman on average every eight days at the hands of her partner or former partner,” the report says.

“It is clear that the national plan has not achieved its objective of a significant and sustained reduction in violence against women and their children.”

The report includes 88 recommendations. Many are administrative, such as gathering more information about the problem, adopting a single national definition of domestic violence to make state-to-state comparisons easier, and better assessment of the effectiveness of existing programs.

2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame is a survivor of sexual assault. Alex Ellinghausen

About one in six women have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner, and one in four had experienced emotional abuse, the report said, citing the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Over the past 12 years, violence within families and relationships has not decreased, and sexual assault has increased, according to an assessment by the St Vincent de Paul Society cited in the report. At the same time, violence within society had decreased, the group said.

One expert said there had been some success. Murder rates within families have fallen over the past two decades in line with broader society, according to Patrick O’Leary, the director of violence research and prevention at the Griffith Criminology Institute.

“One of the biggest issues is we have talked a lot about is integrated responses within states and at the national level - we haven’t really tested how effective that is,” he said.

“Some of the things protective of women and children is at a cultural level of society. They are really hard to shift.”

Andrew Wallace, a Liberal National Party MP who chaired the committee, said clear targets for reducing violence within families needed to be set by governments to hold them accountable, but it was unrealistic to expect they could solve the problem alone.

“We need to understand as a society and a nation, this is a problem we can’t just leave to government,” he said.

“As parents, we need to talk to sons about respectful behaviour and to our daughters what they should be expecting as respectful behaviour. It’s up to all of us.”

Violence against women has become a powerful political force following reports of rape and sexual harassment in politics and the selection of sexual-assault survivor Grace Tame as Australian of the Year.

Domestic and Family Violence Support is available by calling 1800 737 732 (1800 RESPECT).

For immediate support, call Lifeline 13 11 14 or beyondblue 1300 46 36.

Find a range of mental health tests, tools and support resources at beyondblue.org.au and blackdoginstitute.org.au.

Aaron Patrick is the senior correspondent. He writes about politics and business from the Sydney newsroom. Email Aaron at apatrick@afr.com