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Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence on Tuesday 8Th September 2020

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Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence on Tuesday 8Th September 2020 FACULTY OF ARTS Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs: Family, domestic and sexual violence Response to questions taken on Notice Prepared by the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, 22 September 2020. 22 September 2020 The Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs Response to Questions on Notice Thank you for the opportunity to provide a response to questions taken on notice when presenting to the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence on Tuesday 8th September 2020. Please find our response to each of the questions taken on notice attached to this letter. Since we provided our submission to the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs at the end of July 2020 there has been a significant increase in public debate and political attention surrounding calls for the criminalisation of coercive and controlling behaviours. In this response we repeat our recommendation to this Committee that state and territory governments should be cautioned against the introduction of a stand-alone criminal offence of coercive and controlling behaviour without developing a sufficient evidence base first. We have provided further detail on what is needed to improve responses to what is already known about coercive and controlling behaviours across Australia. Our response also includes an appendix with a written response by our colleagues Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Monash University) and Associate Professor Anastasia Powell (RMIT) with leading expertise in the area of technology facilitated abuse. We would welcome the opportunity to provide any further detail to inform the work of the Standing Committee’s reference to examine family, domestic and sexual violence with the view of information the next National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children. Kind regards, Kate Fitz-Gibbon Silke Meyer Naomi Pfitzner Marie Segrave Sandra Walklate JaneMaree Maher 2 Table of contents 1. Update on COVID-19 related research, findings and recommendations ........................................ 4 Update on research findings and recommendations relating to women’s experiences of violence and help seeking behaviours ........................................................................................................................... 4 Update on research findings and recommendations relating to practitioner wellbeing ......................... 4 Update on research findings and recommendations relating to service innovations ............................. 5 Update on research findings and recommendations relating to women experiencing family violence who are temporary visa holders .............................................................................................................. 5 The need to ensure the support and service needs of children are adequately recognised in the covid context ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 2. Integration and streamlining of Justice processes for women and children experiencing domestic and family violence in Australia ............................................................................................................ 8 The integrated domestic violence court model ....................................................................................... 8 Access to justice for women with disability experiencing family violence .............................................. 8 Evidence on the economic benefit of investing in wrap around supports for women and children victims of violence .............................................................................................................................................. 12 3. Evidence on the benefits and efficacy of gender equality interventions and primary prevention programs operating in Australia. ........................................................................................................ 12 4. Barriers for victim/survivors when reporting to police and the evidence on police training, education and cultural change. ........................................................................................................... 13 UK research on police training and coercive control ............................................................................. 13 importance of specialised police and valuing the work that police do in this area. .............................. 14 5. New technologies and coercive control: do you think police need more training in these new technologies? Do you think the technology companies themselves should take more responsibility for it? Is it an area that needs more regulation? ....................................................................................... 15 Other information for the InQuiry ....................................................................................................... 15 The criminalisation of coercive control .................................................................................................. 15 References .......................................................................................................................................... 17 Appendix A: Response to Questions on technology-facilitated abuse, prepared by Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Criminology, Monash University) and Associate Professor Anastasia Powell (Criminology & Justice Studies, RMIT University) ........................................................................................................ 20 Update on COVID-19 related research, findings and recommendations ............................................... 20 References ............................................................................................................................................. 23 3 We have structured this response according to the chronological order of questions taken on notice during our appearance at the Public Hearing. Like our submission, the focus of our responses here recommendations are forward facing and directed largely towards what action can be undertaken, coordinated and achieved by the Australian Government and through the next National Plan. 1. Update on COVID-19 related research, findings and recommendations Here we provide an update on emerging themes and findings from the Centre’s research on COVID-19 and DFV. Drawing on these findings as well as those presented in our July submission to the Inquiry, we note that the Australian Government should commit additional resources to ensuring the safety of women and children experiencing DFV during the pandemic – both to prevent escalation and to ensure responses to women’s help seeking. Investment requires targeted funds for safe housing and to support the specialist sector to develop and deliver services remotely. As we have noted previously, it has also never been more important to invest in the development of supports for the wellbeing of family violence practitioners, both during and beyond this period of restrictions, since the safety of all families depends on these professionals. Here we have provided an update on emerging themes and findings from the Centre’s research on COVID-19 and DFV. UPDATE ON RESEARCH FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS RELATING TO WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES OF VIOLENCE AND HELP SEEKING BEHAVIOURS Our ongoing research examining women’s experiences of violence during the pandemic, has continued to document the ways in which women’s help seeking behaviours have altered under periods of restriction. Specific to the second wave of restrictions in Victoria, in August 2020 we published an article on The Conversation (see Fitz-Gibbon, True and Pfitzner, 2020), which presented trend data from three key frontline services - 1800 Respect (the national helpline), No to Violence (the peak body for men’s services) and Victoria Police - to better understand how the Victorian restrictions have impacted family violence help-seeking behaviours. The findings are relevant to understanding how women may access services throughout future periods of restrictions and what needs may emerge during the easing of restrictions and recovery periods. This data evidenced that under stage 4 restrictions across Metropolitan Melbourne opportunities for women to help seek are significantly limited. One of the notable changes compared with the pre-COVID period has been the increased use of the online chat function. Between May and July 2020, Victorians represented 31% of all 1800 webchat. This represents a 30% increase in use compared to the three months prior to May. The other key change in help-seeking that the 1800RESEPCT data show is the increased volume of calls placed late at night, peaking around midnight. While in this rapidly changing environment the true extent of DFV during the COVID-19 pandemic will only emerge in the months and years to come, this data coupled with the findings of our earlier research in Victoria and Queensland (Pfitzner et al 2020) demonstrates why there is a need to ensure that services are adequately resourced to adapt and respond to DFV victimisation and perpetration as Australia moves through the pandemic. UPDATE ON RESEARCH FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS RELATING TO PRACTITIONER WELLBEING The second phase of our Victorian research on family violence and the COVID-19 pandemic involved online focus groups and an online anonymous survey to capture the voices and experiences
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