Study every death, tackle alcohol: DV commissioner’s urgent advice

“Research to better understand perpetrators will be critical to ensure our interventions can be effectively tailored,” said a summary document of the roundtable discussions.

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“The men’s behaviour change programs that are available are not always tailored to the individual needs of communities such as First Nations men, [gay, bisexual, transgender and queer] men, or men from migrant communities.”

Men also needed more access points for intervention, such as through the health and legal system, rather than just specialist services.

The experts also said law enforcement needed to escalate how it responded to people who were at high risk of committing violence or experiencing harm – continuing the argument for agencies to make risk assessments of potential and serial perpetrators and share information about them across different systems.

Cronin said she would be raising the issue with attorneys-general and police commissioners, as well as telling them to implement the recommendations of death reviews across the country.

“There is a detail and depth of analysis done through death reviews, coronial inquests and inquiries … around Australia which are important to understanding the critical moments for intervention,” the meeting summary said.

“Participants emphasised the need for every jurisdiction to have a well-funded and effective [domestic and family violence] death review mechanism. In addition, reporting to a national body would enable lessons from these death reviews to be shared and acted upon across states and territories.”

Another urgent issue was elevating the role governments play in regulating and responding to factors such as alcohol, drug use, gambling and pornography.

“There has been a reluctance to acknowledge the role of alcohol and other drugs in violence in case it ‘excused’ or ‘justified’ the behaviour,” the summary said.

“It is undeniably a factor in reducing inhibition and resulting in more serious violence. There are now calls to have serious, evidence-based discussions about the role of [alcohol and other drugs] in violence and what levers the government may have.”

This was paired with calls for better support and more resources for the domestic and sexual violence sector – which often operates with a stretched workforce and on short-term funding cycles – as well as accessible accommodation.

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A separate analysis of federal domestic violence funding since 2010 found Commonwealth spending had risen from $0 to $4.5 million a year, between 2010 and 2014, to $644 million by 2023. At the same time, what governments spend money on has become more sophisticated.

“Early on, [domestic and family violence] financing was focused predominantly on crisis response. In recent years, financing has become multipronged … with increasing focus on intersectional experiences, data collection, policy implementation, and systemic reforms,” it said.

But this investment has not been adequately monitored to make sure it’s successful. The analysis, by professional services firm MinterEllison, said the government should outline its specific funding measures for domestic violence in the federal budget, and track funding against concrete outcomes in the national plan.

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