Tough new electronic monitoring and bail laws for SA domestic violence defendants

Defendants on bail for breaching domestic violence restraining orders in SA will soon be treated the same way as those on bail for organised crime. See the new laws.

Defendants on bail for breaching domestic violence intervention orders will be made to wear electronic monitors and follow strict home detention orders.

In a move to toughen laws against abusive perpetrators, they would now have to adhere to bail provisions similar to defendants accused of serious or organised crime offences.

Defendants would be unable to leave home unless for a specific approved reason – such as work or a doctor’s appointment.

Premier Peter Malinauskas says stricter bail laws will be introduced for domestic violence defendants . . .

… including electronic monitoring for breaches of intervention orders.

And they would be fitted with an electronic monitor device that pings real time alerts if those bail conditions are breached.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said the new laws, which passed state parliament this week, would give survivors of domestic violence an “additional layer of confidence” that they would be protected.

“This is a national crisis,” he said.

Attorney-General Kyam Maher says the changes are a “step forward”. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the changes were a “significant step forward”.

“These laws give authorities a significant tool to ensure defendants are complying with the stringent conditions of their monitored home detention bail and respond swiftly in cases where they are in breach.”

Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence Katrine Hildyard said the bill “speaks to that resolve” to “tackle this scourge”.

“Our community if filled with anger, frustration and sorrow that this year, a woman has been killed by a man every four days,” she said.

It comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a new $5000 payment becoming available to people experiencing intimate partner violence.

The federal government will invest $925m over five years to help women escape violent relationships and introduce new legislation to ban deep fake pornography under a suite of measures to combat high rates of gendered violence.

Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland also announced $6.5m in the May budget for a pilot to reduce children’s exposure to violent and degrading pornography skewing childrens views of healthy sexual relationships.

The government will also bring forward legislation in early August to outlaw the release of private information online with an intent to cause harm, known as doxxing.

Mr Malinauskas met with the Prime Minister and other Australian premiers and chief ministers on Wednesday morning in a virtual discussion.

On average in Australia, a woman is killed by an intimate partner every four days, while one in three women has experienced physical violence since the age of 15.

Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin said she was pleased to have a unified conversation about the “appalling” spate of deaths of women killed by their current or ex-partners.

“Like many of you, I wake up every day and pick up my phone worried about what news I’m going to see and the impact that that will have on communities, but we also know that that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

MORE TO COME

Originally published as Tough new electronic monitoring and bail laws for SA domestic violence defendants