Submission No 132 COERCIVE CONTROL IN DOMESTIC RELATIONSHIPS Organisation: Domestic Violence NSW Date Received: 12 February 2021 Submission to the Parliament of New South Wales Joint Select Committee on Coercive Control inquiry into coercive control in domestic relationships Domestic Violence NSW January 2021 1 Domestic Violence NSW | January 2021 | Submission to the New South Wales Parliament Joint Select Committee on Coercive Control inquiry into coercive control in domestic relationships Contents Contents ........................................................................................................................... 2 About Domestic Violence NSW ........................................................................................ 3 Executive summary .......................................................................................................... 4 Part I – Funding the specialist DFV sector........................................................................ 8 Part II – Preventing violence and educating our community ........................................ 10 Part III – Prioritising the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community ................... 12 Part IV – Educating police and the judiciary to respond effectively .............................. 16 Part V – Thorough Consultation ..................................................................................... 20 Part VI – Next steps- immediate and longer-term legislative change ........................... 21 Part VII – Responding to the Terms of Reference.......................................................... 24 2 Domestic Violence NSW | January 2021 | Submission to the New South Wales Parliament Joint Select Committee on Coercive Control inquiry into coercive control in domestic relationships About Domestic Violence NSW CEO Delia Donovan Authors Renata Field and Shelley Booth (Policy and Research Managers) with support from volunteer Suzana Dimitrijevic and legal firm, Hall and Willcox. Contact details Domestic Violence NSW PO Box 3311 REDFERN NSW 2016 Telephone (02) 9698 9777 Email Website www.dvnsw.org.au Domestic Violence NSW (DVNSW) is the peak body for specialist domestic and family violence services in NSW. We have over 80 member organisations across NSW. We work to improve policy, legislative and program responses to DFV (DFV) and to eliminate DFVDFV through advocacy, partnerships and promoting good practice. DVNSW members represent the diversity of specialist services working in NSW to support women, families and communities impacted by DFV. They are non-government-funded organisations.Our member organisations include: crisis and refuge services, transitional accommodation and community housing providers, family support services, Aboriginal controlled organisations and specialist CALD organisations, specialist homelessness service providers, men’s behaviour change programs and networks, community organisations working with high risk communities, specialist women’s legal support services, women and children’s support services, and Safe at Home programs. DVNSW acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation upon whose lands DVNSW works. We pay respects to elders, past, present and emerging. 3 Domestic Violence NSW | January 2021 | Submission to the New South Wales Parliament Joint Select Committee on Coercive Control inquiry into coercive control in domestic relationships Executive summary Domestic Violence NSW (DVNSW) welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Parliament of New South Wales (NSW) Joint Select Committee on Coercive Control’s inquiry into coercive control in domestic relationships, broadly addresses the Terms of Reference for the inquiry. DVNSW is of the opinion that the proposed introduction of a separate offence of coercive control presents an important opportunity to improve the safety and wellbeing of victim-survivors in NSW, provided it is enacted following comprehensive consultation; alongside a well-resourced, whole-of- government and community implementation plan and an extensive and meaningful investment in the domestic violence prevention and response sector. DVNSW recommends amending the civil protection order legislation in the short term to improve immediate safety for victim-survivors whilst broader consultation is undertaken regarding the criminalisation of coercive control and a cohesive, whole-of-system response to DFV. This submission presents the policy position of DVNSW regarding appropriate legislative and non- legislative approaches to addressing coercive control. It also collates the exceedingly varied opinions of the DVNSW membership and victim-survivors of family violence. Members and victim-survivors alike attest that the current system is not safe, nor is it adequately responding to DFV, including coercive controlling forms of abuse; and that people from marginalised groups are more likely to experience negative responses from the criminal justice system. The majority of DVNSW members and victim-survivors only support criminalising coercive control if there is a thorough consultation process with the specialist DFV sector and people with lived experience, suitable training and adequate resourcing for the sector, and training for police and the judiciary. DVNSW concurs with Women’s Legal Service Victoria (WLS Vic) that the issue to be debated is not whether to criminalise coercive control, but how and where to criminalise it (WLS Vic, 2020). It is almost universally agreed that change is necessary to adequately respond to DFV. However, it is critical that experts and experts by experience are consulted within and beyond this Inquiry in order to introduce measures that are successful when implemented and achieve their aim of addressing safety concerns and reducing risk of harm and death. If the above recommendations are not implemented, DVNSW is of the opinion that it would be unwise, harmful and potentially dangerous to introduce proposed legislation, for example, Preethi’s Law. 4 Domestic Violence NSW | January 2021 | Submission to the New South Wales Parliament Joint Select Committee on Coercive Control inquiry into coercive control in domestic relationships Domestic and family violence specialist services continue to provide holistic responses to victim- survivors without the resources required to ensure safety and redress, nor to respond to all requests for support. The adequate funding of specialist services is of immediate concern to DVNSW and must be prioritised alongside any proposed new or modified legislation. We also supportsubstantially resourcing early intervention and primary prevention initiatives in order to address the root of the social issue of DFV. DVNSW recommends that the NSW Government: 1) Increase funding to the specialist DFV sector to ensure that women, children and sex and gender diverse people impacted by DFV receive effective specialist support (including those who do not choose to seek redress via the criminal justice system). 2) Prioritise the funding of DFV primary prevention and early intervention programs, services and education campaigns to stop the violence before it begins, and to change the culture of gendered violence in NSW. 3) Place an immediate priority on working collaboratively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations in addressing the devastating impact of DFV on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in NSW. 4) Substantially increase investment in the ongoing education and training of police and the judiciary in how to effectively and appropriately police and prosecute DFV crimes, including non- physical abuse. 5) Prioritise a thorough consultation process with the specialist DFV sector, leaders and leading organisations representing marginalised groups and people with lived expertise, prior to adding a separate offence of coercive control to the criminal act. 6) Implement changes to Apprehended Domestic Violence Order (ADVO) legislation to provide immediate protections to victim-survivors, such as defining DFV more extensively to include the breadth of coercive controlling behaviours, whilst consultation continues regarding criminalisation. 5 Domestic Violence NSW | January 2021 | Submission to the New South Wales Parliament Joint Select Committee on Coercive Control inquiry into coercive control in domestic relationships 7) Develop a whole-of-government approach to responding to and preventing DFV in NSW in consultation with the specialist DFV sector, experts and experts with lived experience, which is sufficiently resourced, reviewed, monitored and evaluated. In Part I of the submission, we address the need to fund specialist DFV services and crisis response services. In Part II, we outline the urgent priority of funding DFV prevention and early intervention programs, services and education campaigns to stop the violence before it begins, and to change the culture of gendered violence in NSW. In Part III, we advocate for the need to address the devastating impact of DFV on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. In Part IV, we outline the need to invest in the ongoing education and training of police and the judiciary. In Part V, we discuss the importance of a thorough consultation process with the specialist DFV sector and outline our recommendations to implement changes to ADVO legislation. In Part VII, we respond to the Terms of Reference set out in this in inquiry. In Part VIII, we take a detailed look at how our member organisations and victim-survivors responded to two DVNSW