Dutton says there’s a ‘strong argument’ for domestic violence royal commission

Albanese said many elements of the domestic violence response – such as community services, housing, the justice system, courts and bail laws – were state responsibilities.

“But there’s a role for the Commonwealth as well in a range of issues, including the funding that we give for housing,” he said. “We’ve put $2.3 billion over our first two budgets, we have a national plan against violence against women and children that only commenced in 2022. It’s a 10-year plan.”

Dutton, a former police officer, on Friday strengthened his language around the value of a national inquiry, although he did not demand that Albanese call one. When asked by host Peter Fegan if he would hold a royal commission into domestic violence if he became prime minister, the opposition leader said: “It’s a yes, if that’s what’s required”.

“We’ve already said that we strongly support and we advocate for a royal commission in relation to the sexual and domestic violence is taking place in Indigenous communities,” Dutton said.

“Just because it’s not a capital city like Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane, it doesn’t get the air time that it deserves … and those women in Indigenous communities are equal to any Australian. And we should be paying more attention to what’s happening in those communities. But for cultural reasons and other reasons, politicians in Canberra and elsewhere just completely turn a blind eye, which I think is unconscionable.”

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Dutton gave a softer answer when asked the same question on ABC’s Insiders program two weeks ago. “I’d be happy to support anything at all that sees the incidents reduced, that sees women and children growing up in a safer environment, and also, frankly, to point out where programmes are working,” he said.

Albanese earlier this week, in an interview with ABC Alice Springs, said domestic violence was a national crisis that was particularly devastating for Indigenous women. “They’re 7.6 times more likely to die from homicide, to be killed, than non-Indigenous women,” he said.

But Labor and several peak Indigenous groups have previously rejected Dutton’s call for a specific inquiry into their communities, describing it as an attempt to politicise child sexual abuse and play into the “basest negative perceptions of some people about Aboriginal people and communities”.