Royal Commission into Family Violence: government must prioritise finding the money to protect women

THE country’s first Royal Commission into Family Violence has suggested 227 recommendations. Now the government needs to prioritise finding the money to protect women or what’s the point?

Domestic Violence Royal Commission. The findings of the Royal Commission into Family Violence being released at State Parliament. Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews discussing the report with survivors of family violence. Picture: Eugene Hyland

BEFORE it even received a report from the country’s first Royal Commission into Family Violence, the Andrews Government pledged to implement every single recommendation.

Now the clock is ticking and, as Commissioner Marcia Neave makes clear in her report, lives are at stake.

No one should underestimate the magnitude of work the government — and future governments — face to fix a broken system.

There are 227 recommendations.

But it’s not the number that will daunt those in the state’s bureaucracy, where things rarely move quickly.

It is the time frames and the likely mammoth cost.

Within a year, the commission says there should be a big increase in emergency housing, police should have trialled body cameras when responding to family violence cases, and laws should be changed to allow courts to serve intervention orders at any time.

There should also be an expansion of after hours responses to violence, and new child protection guidelines.

Commissioner Neave says within two years police should overhaul the information it provides to courts in affidavits, and the government should create a new Central Information Point so different agencies actually speak to each other about the same case.

Within five years, every family violence matter should be heard by a specialist family violence court, every major Magistrates Court should have safe waiting areas and entry points as well as new ways to interview witnesses, and every school should have respectful relationship classes from Prep.

I’m only scratching the surface of the 227 recommendations here, but you get the point.

The commission calls for an immediate injection of funding to address family violence, and Commissioner Neave should be commended for pushing for near-time changes rather than promoting decades-long goals.

How the Andrews Government plans to meet these time frames is a mystery for now.

The government will respond in full in time, and will undoubtedly have a bucket of money to pour into the problem once the State Budget is handed down in weeks.

But as Commissioner Neave points out in her section on investment, the overall investment will be “substantial”.

“This might require government to reconsider its funding priorities,” she notes.

Commissioner Neave is optimistic that there will be “widespread support” for more investment.

Victims have waited a long time to have their voices heard, and the Royal Commission provided a chance.

Now they will be expecting the government to find the money it needs to get on with the job of protecting women.

Otherwise, some might argue, what was the point?