Monitoring and increased funds in domestic violence package

A ‘substantial package’ to address the ‘national crisis’ of domestic violence is to be delivered by national cabinet on Friday.

National cabinet is set to deliver a ‘substantial’ domestic violence package on Friday.

Changes to how high-risk perpetrators of domestic violence are monitored and funding for frontline services will be the key parts of a “substantial package” to be delivered by national cabinet on Friday, as advocates urge recognition of alcohol’s role in exacerbating violence and the need for immediate reforms in the advertising and sale of the product.

A rapid review commissioned after the last national cabinet in May found that as of August this year, 54 women had been killed in domestic homicides, compared to 58 over the whole of 2023 and 35 in 2022.

Anthony Albanese called the escalating rate of domestic violence in Australia a “national crisis” that commonwealth, state and territory leaders were seeking to address. “National cabinet is committed to ending family, domestic and sexual violence in a generation,” he said.

“We want all violence against women and children to stop, and we won’t be satisfied until it stops. In order to do that, we need an ‘all hands on deck’ approach.”

The Prime Minister said he expected Friday’s meeting to deliver on commitments made in May, which included looking at improving police responses to serial perpetrators and strengthening consistency for risk assessments and responses to sexual assault.

Women’s Minister Katy Gallagher said the focus of reforms would “be on frontline services”.

“The Prime Minister will have more to say about it … We want it to be the commonwealth showing the leadership that we need to show, prepared to put some dollars on the table and we want to shift the dial here,” she told ABC.

“We want to see an end to ­gender-based violence in this country, not only because of the social impacts of that but the huge economic cost of that as well.

“(We) will take a substantial package to national cabinet for further investment in this area.”

Since national cabinet met in May, state governments have implemented their own reforms, such as Victoria’s move to give victims the ability to take out longer intervention orders against abusive partners, and the West Australian government introducing legislation that would see repeat and high-risk domestic violence offenders given ankle monitors.

It is expected that electronic monitoring of perpetrators will be discussed at national cabinet, as advocates call on the harmonisation of laws across the country.

The commonwealth faces calls from figures including Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin to treat domestic violence offenders like terrorists in the way in which they are monitored and tracked.

Pointing to the recent death of NSW mother Molly Ticehurst, Ms Cronin said if governments had watched her former partner the way it watched “people who are labelled as terrorists in our communities, she might still be alive today”.

The rapid review, handed to government late last month, also recommended the creation of a Medicare item number for general practice consults affected by domestic violence, restrictions on alcohol sales and delivery and reforms on gambling advertising.

An open letter by 30 leading advocates released earlier this week urged the government to take alcohol’s role in domestic ­violence seriously at national cabinet.

“We are writing to call on you to take action to address alcohol’s role in domestic, family and sexual violence,” the letter said.

“Many women have shared the role that alcohol plays in their experience of violence. They’ve told us that as the sun goes down, more alcohol flows into their home, and they anticipate the increasing severity of violence.”