Attorney-general rules out royal commission into domestic violence

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus ruled out holding a federal royal commission into domestic violence, saying the government should instead focus on implementing policies it has already identified.

Politicians including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Minister for Woman Katy Gallagher, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth and Dreyfus will attend rallies against male violence in cities across Australia over the weekend, spurred by the killing of 26 women in the first 114 days of the year.

Speaking in Ipswich in Queensland on Saturday morning, Dreyfus said the rallies reflected a high level of community distress about the number of women who are dying at the hands of those who profess to love them.

The attorney-general said Labor had committed $2.3 billion in measures since coming to office, had a national plan to counter violence against women, and had commissioned the Australian Law Reform Commission to look at the justice system’s response to sexual violence.

Asked multiple times if he would consider a royal commission, Dreyfus said the question of violence against women was one that had to be dealt with through co-operation between the federal government working with state and territory governments.

“I think we’ve actually identified a whole range of actions already that need to be taken, and I think what we probably can say is that we need to be working harder on the kinds of actions that have already been identified,” he said.

Last week Dreyfus gave a speech in Melbourne saying men needed to step up, as there was a crisis of male violence after the Bondi stabbing attack, comments which he repeated on Saturday.

“We know more needs to be done and in part, it is about men stepping up, that’s what I said in my speech last week. I’m going to keep saying that men need to step up,” he said.

“One of the things we need to look at is whether or not the current arrangements we’ve got for things like apprehended violence orders [or] domestic violence orders that seek to restrict potential perpetrators are in fact enough, are the right measure.”