Marion Scrymgour: Domestic violence and family responsibility

In a sobering public statement on 15 October 2024, following the latest senseless killing at Lajamanu, Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst echoed the thoughts of many of us, writes Marion Scrymgour.

Federal Member for Lingiari, Marion Scrymgour. Picture: Supplied

In a sobering public statement on October 15, following the latest senseless killing at Lajamanu, NT Police Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst echoed the thoughts of many of us.

He said of the continuing deaths: “The tragedy is mounting, and that tragedy is one that the Northern Territory cannot ignore – seven matters being investigated by the Northern Territory Police as domestic homicides since 1 June of this year.”

The new CLP government has a mandate to address crime, and they would say it is a matter for them how they go about doing this.

But when it comes to revisiting legislation, it was surprising to me that a priority was not to reinstate the sentencing arrangement which had been in place under Labor and CLP governments for many years for breaching domestic violence orders.

The rule was simple.

Police estimate between 60 to 80 domestic violence incidents are reported each day across the Territory, with every death resulting from those reports a tragedy. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

There was a minimum mandatory sentence for breaching a domestic violence order, and it could not be doubled up with any other sentence imposed on the offender.

This is not to say that enforcing the law in relation to breaching DVO’s is by itself going to stop domestic homicides, but it is about sending a message.

What message are we sending if the sentence you get for breaching a DVO can get buried in and made meaningless by the imposition of a concurrent sentence for some other offence?

I am not a supporter of mandatory sentencing generally, but in my mind DV breaches are different.

DVO’s are something which society has created to prevent a recurrence of domestic violence.

Domestic violence has a devastatingly negative impact on kids who witness and are affected by it.

As Assistant Commissioner Wurst pointed out, domestic violence leads directly to delayed-effect trauma, and to a lack of guidance and support for our youth.

NT Police Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst. Picture: Alex Treacy

And that in turn leads to unacceptable levels of youth crime.

The spotlight gets put on the kids when often it should be on the parents.

I recently wrote to the Chief Minister proposing two things.

The first, noting she has said that the new government’s intention is not to lock up young people under 12 but stop them from falling between the cracks in the system, is for the government to demonstrate this intention by legislating to remove detention as a sentencing option for those under this age.

The new CLP government should bring back family responsibility orders and associated enforcement provisions, writes Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour. Picture: File

This would leave intact all the other measures under the Youth Justice Act, including family circumstances inquiries and family responsibility agreements.

The second would be to bring back the family responsibility orders and associated enforcement provisions, which were regrettably removed from the Youth Justice Act in 2021. The enforceability provisions were designed to get parents to take family responsibility agreements seriously.

Family circumstances inquiries under the Youth Justice Act can look at whether money intended for children is getting spent properly.

A copy of this letter was provided to my colleague the federal Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth, in the hope that the two levels of government can work together to make parents more responsible.

Marion Scrymgour is the Federal Member for Lingiari