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

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pledged a royal commission into domestic violence if one is required to unearth the evidence to end men’s violence against women, particularly in Indigenous communities.

Weighing into weeks of debate about whether governments must take more action to address the crisis, Dutton said there was a “strong argument” for a federal inquiry.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says there is a strong case for a royal commission.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

“I think there’s a strong argument for a royal commission if we know that it’s going to produce the evidence that can give us a pathway and an answer to [this] scourge,” he said in a preview of an interview, which will be aired on Saturday on radio station 4BC in Brisbane.

Former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet also backed the case for a federal royal commission into domestic violence this week. He said it would guide “meaningful action”, particularly on systemic cultural issues such as young boys’ access to violent pornography.

But the federal government has played down the need for a national inquiry and pointed to its 10-year national domestic violence plan, in which it has invested $2.3 billion over five years. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday revealed a $925 million budget measure to deliver $5000 emergency payments to women fleeing violence, following a national cabinet meeting called in response to the deaths of 28 women this year in violent circumstances.

A meeting of police ministers on Friday agreed to task officials with improving how police respond to high-risk and serial domestic violence perpetrators, but did not provide further updates on how states would take action.

Asked on Tuesday whether there should be a federal royal commission into domestic violence, Albanese said: “There are royal commissions.

“There’s been a royal commission in Victoria. There’s a royal commission under way in South Australia. NSW is giving consideration of a royal commission. You don’t want multiple inquiries into the same things across different jurisdictions,” he said.

However, the NSW government on Friday moved away from holding a royal commission, instead committing to an emergency package that will be announced in coming days.

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 that 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.”

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 programs 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”.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.