Electronic monitoring trials, a new team of eSafety experts and home security assessments for victim-survivors are all to be established in an effort to help end family, domestic and sexual violence.
Announced by Minister for Women’s Safety, Senator Anne Ruston, the technology-focused funding package is to support State and Territory Governments to trial electronic monitoring of high-risk and persistent family and domestic violence offenders, based on Tasmania’s award-winning Project Vigilance.
Senator Ruston said that in 2017 the Tasmanian Government, with Commonwealth support, trialled bilateral electronic monitoring that monitored offenders and enhanced victim-survivor protection by creating exclusion and buffer zones based on the live location of the victim-survivor, “which is monitored in real time using GPS tracking devices”.
“The evaluation of the trial demonstrated a 76 per cent decrease of high-risk incidents, 81 per cent reduction of threats, 100 per cent decrease in reports of stalking and that 80 per cent of offenders did not re-offend in six months following the removal of the electronic monitoring device,” she said.
“We hear all too often that perpetrators flagrantly ignore the conditions of family violence orders and continue to be violent, harass and stalk their victims.
“This Program has a proven track record of keeping Tasmanian women safer, making perpetrators more accountable and improving police response times through real-time tracking.”
Senator Ruston said electronic monitoring was not the panacea to keep women safe, but it was “another tool in the tool kit as we seek to address the full life cycle of violence across prevention, early intervention, response and recovery”.
Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, Paul Fletcher said the funding package would support the eSafety Commission to set up a team of experts to provide victim-survivors with practical and personalised support to address technology-facilitated abuse through referrals from counselling services.
Senator Ruston said up to 30,000 victim-survivors would also be supported to stay safe in their own homes through security assessments and upgrades, including cameras, bug sweeps and safe phones.
She said the expansion of the Department of Social Services’ Keeping Women Safe in their Homes Program would provide thousands more victim-survivors with access to technology safety specialists to secure their homes and devices.
“We want to support women and children to remain in their home or a home of their choice, where it is safe and appropriate to do so, through safety planning and the provision of personal safety alarms, security cameras, dash cameras and other technology solutions,” Senator Ruston said.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au.
