Victorian family violence advocates call for action after $925m federal government pledge

The panel included government decision-makers, leaders in the sector and survivours. (ABC News: Darcy Hodgson)

More than 200 Victorians at “serious risk” of family violence were sleeping in motels on Wednesday night, according to the head of a 24/7 family violence response centre.

The comments were made at a family violence panel held by ABC Radio Melbourne, where presenter Ali Moore was joined by government decision-makers, leaders in the sector and survivors to discuss solutions to what has been described as a “national crisis”.

Chelsea Tobin, the CEO of Victorian-based Safe Steps, said motels were meant to be a short-term solution, but her organisation was still reliant on them.

“This was a contingency measure that’s lasted 30 years, and when is enough?” Dr Tobin said.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Shane Patton, and Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia William Alstergren were among those who observed Dr Tobin’s comments as part of the panel.

Family violence survivor and social worker Christine Craik and sexual assault survivor and lawyer Karen Iles, a Dharug woman, were also on the panel.

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced his government would commit nearly $1 billion to support victim-survivors in a national cabinet meeting, as Australians attended vigils across the country that evening.

But family violence organisation leaders and advocates said more needed to be done to stop gendered violence.

Funding for ‘wraparound’ services and men’s behavioural programs needed 

The forum was called after an increase in violence against women this year.

So far in Australia this year, 28 women have been violently killed allegedly by a man. Five of them were from Victoria.

Dr Tobin said while the state has made great progress since the 2015 Royal Commission into Family Violence, “proven” models could be implemented to not only help people in crisis, but prevent continuing violence.

“The critical difference is the intensive wraparound services that are on site,” she said.

“So if you’re scared tonight, you could call us, we’d assess your risk thoroughly, we’d bring you into emergency accommodation.

“And then you would have police on site doing IVOs, you’d have Centrelink doing safe separation, you have teachers, nurses, children’s workers, immigration, legal services — and you can be in a very different position in a very short period of time.”

Christine Craik, a family violence survivor and social worker, told the panel more work needed to be done to change men’s behaviour.

“All the work that we’ve done through the royal commission and the system reform has, quite rightly, been focused on supporting women who are victims of family violence and their children,” Dr Craik said.

“But clearly … the number’s going up.

“We have to look at changing men’s behaviour, changing the attitudes, looking at the interventions and supporting men to to understand the consequences of some of these actions.”

The panel heard from a family violence perpetrator who participated in a men’s behavioural program after calling a referral phone line.

The man, who the ABC has chosen not to identify, said he was unaware some of his actions were defined as family violence.

“I didn’t see myself as a perpetrator,” he said.

“It took going through the program specifically … to realise there was so much more that I didn’t think was violence.”

First Step Legal acting principal lawyer Tom Mainwaring, who works with clients that are accused of family violence, said lawyers can also play a part in helping perpetrators find “insight and accountability”.

“For men, there’s something quite unique and special about the lawyer-client relationship,” he said.

“And within the confines of that relationship, we can achieve something quite unique with men who use family violence and explore themes that they may not be able to articulate in other settings.”

Calls for national database as survivors criticise police response

There was also a call to create a database of family violence court orders so judges could make faster decisions, which followed a similar proposition from a senior Victoria Police commander last week.

William Alstergren, the chief justice of the Family Court of Australia, said there was no formal state or national database of people who had received intervention orders, which delayed court action in protecting children from family violence.

“We normally have to wait anything from 24 hours to much longer to try and find out what’s happening on the state side of things,” he said.

“Many people do actually tell us the information we require … but sometimes judges aren’t equipped with enough information.”

He said a national database has been the subject of a federal attorney-general taskforce, and he hoped it would be created “very soon”.

But a common theme during discussions was a lack of trust that existed between the community and police officers.

Lawyer Karen Iles said research has shown a minority of women come forward to police to report sexual assault, which she said reflected a distrust in authorities.

“The answer is building confidence in our police force,” she said.

“Confidence that when you walk into a police station and you report [assault], the police will protect you and prevent further violence occurring against you.”

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said their “total focus” was on victim safety and perpetrator accountability.

“It’s a core policing value,” he said.

“It’s making sure we got the protection for the victims immediately and expose them to as least trauma as we possibly can.”

Chief Commissioner Patton said while the system wasn’t “perfect”, family violence policing had come a long way since the royal commission.

“There’s no single silver bullet here — it’s an incremental progression.”

National cabinet could have delivered more, says independent MP

Zoe Daniel, the federal member for Goldstein who was present in the audience, said her concern was with the outcome of Wednesday’s national cabinet, where the federal government pledged $925-million towards combating gender-based violence.

She said the meeting between state and federal leaders could have been a “moment right now to shift something”, but it fell short of expectations.

“The can was kicked down the road,” she said.

“There was no extra funding for frontline services, there was no extra funding for housing.”

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, who attended national cabinet, said states needed to work better together to address the issue.

“What came out of national cabinet today was a determination that we need to take action across the country because violence against women isn’t stopping at a state border,” she said.

But she said Victoria was “not waiting for that national response”, having already “built the system” to combat gender-based violence.

“We have stronger resources and powers for Victoria Police, we have a stronger sharing of information between our agencies, we’ve got that foundation that we can now build on in terms of looking at our next set of actions,” she said.

The Victorian state budget is due to be handed down next Tuesday.

“The state budget is next week, but the work that I’ve tasked the ministers to do will go beyond that state budget window,” Ms Allan said.