The Australian Federal Police Association (AFPA) welcomes the 2024 ACT election announcement from the Canberra Liberals which supports women and victims of family and domestic violence.
The key components of the reforms include:
- Establishment of specialised domestic and family violence fast response units
- Legislate a standalone criminal offence for coercive control and implement a coercive control education program developed in consultation with frontline service providers and victim survivors
- Establish a dedicated endometriosis and pelvic pain clinic at the Canberra Hospital
- Boost funding to support women return to work including work placement, training and support
- Commit to allocating all revenue received from the Safer Families Levy towards frontline domestic and family violence services
- Provide a $875,000 funding commitment for Fearless Women.
AFPA President Alex Caruana said that all these initiatives and reforms are important, with the key aspects for policing and keeping the community safe being the establishment of fast response teams for domestic and family violence incidents and the introduction of coercive control education program and legislation.
“These two initiatives will directly help victims of family and domestic violence. Police and support services on the ground do a fantastic job with the limited resources and funding they have. We believe that the next step is to introduce a model that includes a police, ambulance and family violence support expert, similar to the current PACER model, which can provide police, medical and welfare support immediately to people reporting domestic and family violence.
“Giving victims immediate support helps in so many ways. Our members tell us that many people need fast support when it comes to domestic and family violence. This fast support allows the victim to understand the processes that can take place and aids them to implement measures and strategies to help them through the judicial process and changes they wish to make in their life to ensure their safety.
“It also gives victims confidence that people are there to support and help them, making them more likely to come forward to report incidents,” Mr Caruana said.
The AFPA is on public record supporting coercive control legislation that includes a comprehensive community and industry education package.
AFPA President Alex Caruana said that coercive control is insidious in nature and happens quite often in the community.
“Coercive control is not often obvious to the victim, and can be identified as part of another investigation, such as domestic and family violence. Coercive control is a form of family violence, and a stand-alone offence as proposed by the Canberra Liberals will give victims, police and the support services greater avenues to investigate and report this hideous and controlling behaviour.
“You don’t need to assault someone to cause them trauma and fear. Coercive control includes emotional abuse, isolation, restricting and controlling finances, threatening to harm children or pets or demanding sexual acts.
“On average, ACT Policing responds to 11 domestic and family violence incidents per day, and nearly half the assaults reported to police are domestic and family violence related. We believe that this is only the tip of the iceberg, and many incidents go unreported.
“A recent review into 12 Canberra domestic and family violence deaths found the perpetrator exercised coercive control over victims in nearly every case.
“The introduction of a specific coercive control offence and a domestic and family violence fast response unit will go along way in supporting more victims to come forward. This will mean we have a truer indication of the severity of domestic and family violence in our community. From there, funding and resources can be adjusted to ensure that demand for services are met,” Mr Caruana said.
