Jay Weatherill reveals SA may adopt UK model for domestic violence disclosure scheme
UPDATE: Family violence survivor Rosie Batty has welcomed an SA Government proposal to allow worried women to access the criminal history of their partner in a bid to prevent domestic violence.
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WORRIED women could ask authorities to reveal the criminal history of their partner under a scheme the State Government is considering to prevent domestic violence.
Premier Jay Weatherill told The Advertiser he wanted to explore how South Australia could
adopt a domestic violence disclosure scheme similar to a model used in the United Kingdom that is credited with saving lives.
Known as Clare’s Law, the model was introduced there in 2013, following the 2009 murder of Clare Wood, who was oblivious to her partner’s history of abusing women.
The scheme allows a person — male or female — to make inquiries about their partner, or a third party such as a parent or friend to make inquiries on their behalf, if they are concerned the partner may have been violent or abusive in the past.
The State Government acknowledges there would be privacy concerns about the proposal, but Mr Weatherill said it was important to consider all options to stop future abuse.
The Government will release a discussion paper on the issue next year.
Mr Weatherill announced the move at a White Ribbon breakfast in Adelaide this morning, attended by about 1200 people.
Australian of the Year and family violence survivor Rosie Batty addressed the event.
Afterwards, she told reporters a disclosure scheme could have helped her and her son Luke, who was murdered by his father Greg.
“There may be some unintended consequences from it, we may have to think carefully about it, but I do think it’s a step in the right direction,” Ms Batty said.
“I think we should be giving less concern about violation of privacy and more focus on the benefit to the people who are in a position of extreme danger.”
Ms Batty said she was not told her ex-partner Greg was facing charges involving child pornography.
“There were other things I didn’t know Greg had done … involving violence with other people,” she said.
“These are incredibly important pieces of information that help you understand the severity of the situation you’re in, join the dots, see some red flags, to get a true picture.
“That would have given me a lot more clarity on perhaps the extreme danger I was in.”
Ms Batty also used her speech at this morning’s event to:
URGE investment in perpetrator rehabilitation programs, describing the current level of funding as “abysmal”.
PRAISE South Australia’s response to domestic violence and “some terrible tragedies that have happened here” as nation leading.
REMIND the audience that factors such as substance abuse or mental illness can exacerbate violence, but its root cause is a desire for power and control.
COMMEND Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for bringing “the leadership for change (in this field) that we have been needing for a long time”.
FORECAST a campaign to be run next year focusing on young people’s attitudes to violence.
Mr Weatherill said the level of domestic violence in our community was “unacceptable and the Government must look at everything we can do to help prevent the tragedies we are seeing every week in Australia”.
“Clearly we need to be doing more to prevent the violence that claimed the lives of Clare Wood in the UK, Luke Batty in Victoria, Zahra Abrahimzadeh in Adelaide and too many others everywhere.”
South Australia’s move towards a domestic violence disclosure scheme follows a commitment by the New South Wales Liberal Government to trial the concept there next year.
A report following a 14-month trial of the scheme in the UK found it had provided more than 100 people with “potentially lifesaving information”.
The Advertiser first reported in January that Labor backbencher and former policeman Lee Odenwalder was urging his Government to consider establishing a domestic violence disclosure scheme.
“At its core, it is a prevention measure, and early reports out of the UK suggest that it is saving lives,” Mr Odenwalder said.
“If a person feels they may be at risk of domestic violence, this would give them the ability to seek information and the police the ability to provide information if they have concerns.”
In the UK, the scheme centres on a “right to ask”, enabling people to inquire about the criminal history of a partner, and a “right to know”, which empowers police to proactively disclose information about someone with a violent history, in certain circumstances, to protect a potential victim.
Clare’s Law outlines a four-stage process: application to police; an in-person meeting to complete the application; consideration by a multi-agency taskforce of whether to disclose the information, and finally releasing the information.
A conviction is only disclosed if a person has a relevant offence recorded in their criminal history.
Relevant offences include violent offences committed in a domestic relationship and certain others outside of a domestic relationship, such as sexual assault, child abuse or murder.
Mr Odenwalder said authorities would “need to be extremely careful about the type of information that is disclosed” but argued “a case could be made for providing information beyond merely convictions for domestic violence-type offences”.
“We should also look at intervention (protection) orders, both existing and historical, and at convictions for other violent offences, particularly if they form a clear pattern of behaviour,” he said.
Opposition Deputy Leader Vickie Chapman said the Liberal Party would work with the Government to develop a workable model for SA.
“It’s certainly worth looking at. It’s going to be a question of what data is available to them,” Ms Chapman said.
“It should be targeted. If that’s properly supervised, it could be a good service.”
The Law Society of SA has previously said authorities would have to consider what kind of information could be released and to whom, if police or courts should have the power to authorise the release of information and what threshold of risk to a person might need to be met before information is released.
Experts have also raised questions about whether such a scheme may unintentionally place the burden of responsibility back on women or invite judgment if they chose to stay with a partner once they found out they had a violent history.
*If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au