New legislation that puts the State at the forefront of the fight against family and domestic violence has been passed by the Parliament.
The successful Bill includes two new offences under the Criminal Code, namely ‘suffocation and strangulation’ and ‘persistent family violence’ and it also introduces a serial family violence offender declaration, the first in Australia.
The Minister for Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence, Simone McGurk said there were new aggravated penalties for offences which commonly occurred in circumstances of family violence and new jury directions had been introduced to counter stereotypes, myths and misconceptions about family and domestic violence.
Also in the legislation is a provision making it easier for the evidence of family and domestic violence to be introduced in criminal trials and the requirement of a vehicle owner to identify the driver responsible for incurring a fine had been removed in cases where the owner could demonstrate that to do so might result in family violence.
Ms McGurk said she was optimistic that the Bill would protect lives.
“The reforms demonstrate a cross-Government commitment to tackling the complex and non-discriminatory issue of family and domestic violence, which impacts countless individuals and families on a daily basis,” Ms McGurk said.
“These transformational changes respond to our increased understanding of how family and domestic violence impacts victims, who are predominantly women and children.”
She said the rates of family and domestic violence in the community were unacceptably high and the Government was determined to send a very clear message — “Violence is never OK”.
