Lawyer Simon Joyner calls on state government to do more to curb domestic violence

A Sydney lawyer is demanding the state government do more to help victims of domestic violence, saying rates of control, abuse and assaults are rising at an alarming rate.

Domestic violence rates are climbing in NSW, according to police statistics, with one of Sydney’s most prominent lawyers saying it is now “the worst I’ve ever seen”.

NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data shows domestic violence assault cases reported to police rose by 3.1 per cent in the five years to December 2021.

The number of breaches of Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVOs) increased by 10 per cent, while incidents of domestic violence ­intimidation, stalking and harassment rose by more than 9 per cent.

Last year alone, police across the state attended 139,000 calls for assistance related to domestic and family violence, with more than 33,100 of those resulting in actual assaults and 17 domestic-related murders.

Simon Joyner, a criminal lawyer of 19 years, said the state government could do much more to address the issue by creating a “national perpetrator register”, increasing penalties for breaches of ADVOs, and dramatically increasing funding for crisis accommodation.

Domestic violence assault cases reported to police in NSW rose by 3.1 per cent in the five years to December 2021. Picture: iStock

“In my opinion, more government intervention is necessary to curb intimate partner violence,” Mr Joyner said.

“In my experience, not enough is being done to protect the victims and their children in these cases.

Criminal lawyer Simon Joyner says the government needs to do more to help victims of domestic violence.

“Steps need to be taken, like dedicated domestic violence courts, a national perpetrator register and speeding up a massively delayed court system where it is taking up to 12 months to get a hearing date.

“At first instance, the government needs to drastically increase spending on crisis accommodation and rental assistance so that victims are not trapped with their abusers.”

Last month, The Sunday Telegraph revealed a set of changes proposed by Premier Dominic Perrottet to the way the state’s courts handle domestic violence cases by establishing dedicated domestic violence courts.

But Mr Joyner said the changes don’t go far enough.

Anecdotally, Mr Joyner said the most common types of abuse cases he had seen at the court were instances of financial abuse, drug and alcohol-related intimate partner abuse, and violent assaults.

“From a frontline point of view, the instances of emotional abuse, coercive control, economic abuse and physical violence I am seeing in the court are rising at an alarming rate,” Mr Joyner said.

“It crosses the entire socio-economic spectrum and urgent attention is needed.”

In just four days in January, 164 of NSW’s most wanted domestic violence offenders were arrested and charged in NSW, as police launched Operation Amarok to crack down on the worsening rates of domestic violence.

In total, 648 people were arrested and charged with a combined total of 1153 offences.

In 2015, a PricewaterhouseCoopers report revealed one in four women from age of 15 had been the victim of domestic violence.

Minister for Women’s Safety and the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence Natalie Ward said Mr Joyner’s suggestions would be considered as part of the government’s anti-domestic violence policy.

Shadow attorney general Michael Daley said Labor had been calling for specialist domestic violence courts “for the best part of a decade” and that “domestic and family violence is becoming a bigger problem under the watch of this government.”

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