DV reforms will make Queensland a safer place for everyone

Having long campaigned for change, The Courier-Mail welcomes Queensland’s domestic violence reforms. Now it’s time to action the recommendations swiftly and make the state a safer place, writes the editor.

Full credit to Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman for having steered through the major domestic violence reforms announced by the Queensland government on Tuesday. These changes will be a watershed moment for this state.

Among a long list of overdue reforms, the two biggest parts of the announcement were the establishment of a commission of inquiry into how Queensland police handle domestic violence cases – and that coercive control within relationships will be criminalised. The Courier-Mail has strongly campaigned and advocated for both, and so we welcome the news.

The Courier-Mail has long campaigned for change.

There in the public gallery of the state parliament on Tuesday was a group who also strongly welcomed the announcement – a group brought together by unimaginable tragedy: a (in the words of Lloyd Clarke, father of Hannah Clarke) “strange society, one that not many people know about, and one that no-one would ever want to join”.

Their tireless efforts to ensure the deaths of their loved ones were not in vain will save lives. Who were their loved ones? Well, let’s shout their names from the rooftops today: Hannah, Aaliyah, Laianah, Trey, Allison, Tara, Kelly, Doreen, Fabiana and Teresa – along with all the other victims of this terrible scourge we must all take responsibility for addressing.

Among those present for the announcement were Lloyd and Sue Clarke. Their daughter Hannah Clarke and her three children were killed in an act of domestic violence. Picture: NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

And so to the changes. In December, we editorialised that Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll “might want to rethink” her comments that a commission of inquiry into the culture of domestic violence in the Queensland Police Service was not needed.

The inquiry was there among the 89 recommendations of the Hear Her Voice report of the Queensland Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce. But Commissioner Carroll at the time said: “While I do not fear (it), I cannot support this recommendation”. Her reasoning was an independent body already looks at such issues, it would be costly, and the service was “already undertaking most of the recommendations that have been nominated in the report”.

Well, we maintain she was wrong. While frontline police really do have the hardest job in the state and while, yes, everything is clearer with hindsight, we think we should listen instead to the families of Tara Brown, Fabiana Palhares, Teresa Bradford and Doreen Langham – all Queensland women who died despite having complained to police about domestic violence.

In the cases of Ms Brown, Ms Palhares and Ms Bradford, coronial inquiries found police ignored or mishandled their cries for help.

During the inquest into Ms Langham’s death earlier this year, former Queensland Police assistant commissioner Clem O’Regan gave evidence that officers did “less than the minimum” and made “major” mistakes ahead of her murder. He said two in particular “did not listen” to Ms Langham. She had told them about her former partner, Gary Hely, burning down an ex-partner’s home, alleged stalking and entering her home with intent. Ms Langham was killed when her unit was set on fire by Hely.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll.

Not all police are guilty of a culture that at times ignores or downplays domestic violence. Our state has some of the best officers in this country and they do a tough job, day in, day out. But police inaction has been found to have a role to play in DV murders enough times to warrant a thorough investigation into the service’s culture.

On coercive control, The Courier-Mail has also supported calls from Ms Clarke’s family for coercive control to be criminalised – and so the government’s pledge to make that a reality is welcome. There is no doubt it will save lives.

The Courier-Mail has also campaigned for better education in schools to recognise and deal with DV, which will also be actioned.

A respondent’s criminal history will also now be provided to court in DVO applications, which is a step closer to the plea from domestic violence groups to allow the disclosure of DV histories to at-risk people – again, which The Courier-Mail has also campaigned for.

Lloyd Clarke says “everyone needs to join the fight” because that “strange society” he is a reluctant member of “doesn’t need any more members”. That is why it is critical the Palasczcuk government action these recommendations swiftly. As we said on our front page in the days after the murder of Hannah and her three children, there are no excuses. These changes will make Queensland a safer place.