Background Paper to Time for Action: The National Council's Plan for Australia to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, 2009-2021 

12.1 Overview

The following table provides a high-level overview of the support systems in place for victims/survivors of sexual assault and domestic and family violence in Western Australia in terms of the ‘three S’s’ – structural, strategic and sustained principles.

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The following table provides a high level overview of the support systems for victims/survivors of sexual assault and domestic and family violence in Western Australia in terms of the ‘three P’s’ – prevention, provision and prosecution.

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12.2 Profile

This section outlines in further detail the Western Australian Government’s current response to violence against women and their children, using Amnesty International’s structure of the ‘three S’s’ – structural, strategic and sustainable, and ‘three P’s’ – prevention, provision and prosecution.

12.2.1 Structural

In Western Australia, policy coordination for domestic and family violence and sexual assault are managed through two different government departments:

• Policy coordination for sexual assault is managed through the Department of Health.
• Policy coordination for domestic and family violence is managed through the Family and Domestic Violence Unit within the Department for Communities. The primary purpose of the unit is to identify, inform and monitor the development of government policy on domestic and family violence, coordinate a central and regional across-government approach and facilitate community partnerships in addressing the issue of domestic and family violence²³³.

12.2.2 Strategic

Key strategies and plans to respond to violence against women in Western Australia are detailed below.

• The overarching strategy for the prevention of violence against women and their children in Western Australia is the Western Australian Women’s Safety Framework, developed by the Office for Women’s Policy. The framework provides a foundation to improve women’s safety by outlining the way in which long-term policies and programs affecting women will be developed, and providing a structure for cross-agency collaboration²³⁴.
• One of the major outputs of the unit is the Western Australian Family and Domestic Violence State Strategic Plan titled A Balanced Approach: Prevention-Protection-Provision 2004 – 2008. It was developed in consultation with members of the Family and Domestic Violence Coordinating Committee, which comprises representatives from government and non-government agencies. It adopts a whole-of-government and whole-of-community approach. It aims to reduce and prevent the incidence of domestic and family violence in Western Australia. Three priority areas underpin its approach:
  • prevention – ensuring the prevention of interpersonal and gender-based violence through community development and education that is supported by an effective legal framework;
  • protection – promoting the protection of those at risk through changes to the law, policy and practice and through holding perpetrators accountable for their abusive behaviour;
  • provision – developing the provision of an effective service response that meets the needs of all those experiencing domestic and family violence²³⁵.

Activities undertaken to progress the strategy are reported in annual action plans. The most recent is the Western Australian Family and Domestic Violence Action Plan 2007-2008. This builds upon the progress achieved against by the previous action plan for 2006-2007. There are four overarching themes for 2007-2008 (which are a continuation of the previous action plan’s themes) and are a reflection of the 10 focus areas presented in the strategic plan. The themes are:

• greater coordination and collaboration across government and non-government sectors;
• improving service delivery standards through better training, consistent and up-to-date guidelines and monitored competencies;
• improving services for communities of interest through a combination of client-centred and capacity building approaches;
• integration of policy and practice.

The action plan describes and outlines key actions, initiatives and activities, responsible departments, organisations and other groups. It does not provide clear measures and/or indicators to assess progress relative to these objectives. Progress reports for previous financial years do, however, provide a description of progress against objectives. The Progress Report for the 2006-07 Action Plan (the most recent progress report) is available on the Department for Communities’ web site.

• In 2008, a cross-government Senior Officer Group developed a Strategic Plan for Family and Domestic Violence 2009-2013. The draft plan provided the foundation for the development of an action plan by government departments with primary responsibility for responding to domestic and family violence. The draft strategic and action plan focus on the following:
  • the need for greater reform of the system through a more robust integrated response across agencies that respond to domestic and family violence;
  • the lack of service capacity, particularly in regional and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, to effectively respond to the needs of victims and perpetrators;
  • the need for a comprehensive approach to prevention and early intervention.
• Another strategy is the Aboriginal Justice Agreement. While not solely focused on violence against women and their children, the agreement is ‘a planning framework that brings together Aboriginal people and government and non-government agencies to identify and address justice issues at a local, regional and state level’²³⁶. It aims to create safer communities, reduce the number of victims of crime and reduce the degree to which Aboriginal people are represented in the criminal justice system. There are 30 local justice forums in 10 regions. Local forums are held to identify issues in the community and to develop a local justice agreement. The top three issues are then implemented with the help of a Regional Coordinator from the Department of the Attorney-General. Many of the initiatives focus on reducing community violence/family feuding and improving the safety of children.

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12.2.3 Sustained

Arrangements for leading responses to violence against women in Western Australia are as follows:

• Whole-of-government responses to sexual assault are coordinated through the Women's and Newborns Health Service, Department of Health. Western Australia has a Family and Domestic Violence Senior Officers’ Group made up of senior officers from various government departments. It functions to ‘ensure high level coordination and a strategic across-government response to the issue of family and domestic violence’²³⁷.
• The Western Australian Women’s Safety Framework Reference Group consists of representatives from early childhood, crime prevention, domestic and family violence, youth, health and women’s advisory groups and government agencies. The reference group is facilitated by the Office for Women and Department for Communities and provides expert advice on projects targeted under the framework.

12.2.4 Prevention

The Western Australian Government has initiated programs to prevent and reduce violence against women and children. These include education and public-awareness campaigns to change entrenched cultural attitudes. Over the past four years, the Family Domestic Violence Unit has supported the following initiatives:

• Establishing an Advisory Group on Prevention and Early Intervention with representation across both government and non-government agencies to advise on priorities and strategies for raising community awareness, and understanding, of domestic and family violence.
• Providing funding for the development of a training manual for the domestic violence and disability sectors in Western Australia.
• Providing funding to support a project by the Same Sex Domestic Abuse Group to develop inclusive policies and procedures for mainstream service providers to ensure that the services they provide are appropriate and accessible to gay and lesbian people experiencing domestic abuse. Further funding enabled the group to focus on training and resource development and awareness-raising.
• Producing resources for young people experiencing abuse in partnership with the Office for Children and Youth. The resources target three areas including: young people experiencing domestic and family violence; young people experiencing dating violence; and how to support friends or mates who are experiencing abuse.
• Providing a small grant through the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (communities) Family Violence Education Grants Program to help community leaders, elders and religious leaders undertake education and/or training that will provide them with better skills and confidence to address the issue of domestic and family violence in their community. Fourteen of the 19 grants provided were for African communities.
• Targeting General Practitioners with training and resources on how to respond to domestic and family violence.
• Establishing a departmental Family and Domestic Violence Consumer Advisory Committee of women who have experienced domestic and family violence, to provide advice on policy direction.
• Partnering with the Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services and the Department of Education to develop a school-based Peer Education Program aimed at preventing relationship violence. The project involves educating school children to act as peer educators (by acting as contact points for information and by conducting school-based activities) in relation to domestic and family violence and dating violence.

12.2.5 Provision

In terms of provision, the Western Australian Government provides services for victims/survivors to access support for their physical, mental and social well-being and to protect them from further violence. The following list provides examples of typical services:

• The Department of Health funds services for victims of sexual violence. The Sexual Assault Resource Centre, which is part of the Women’s and Newborns’ Health Service, provides 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week medical, forensic and crisis counselling services to recent victims of sexual assault. It also provides a counselling service at several sites across the metropolitan area for victims of sexual assault or historical sexual abuse. Albany Hospital also has a designated worker who is responsible for providing a service to victims of sexual violence.
• Victims of recent sexual assault can present at regional emergency departments for medical and forensic services. Where a regional non-government sexual assault service exists, a counsellor from that service can provide psychosocial support after a recent sexual assault. Additionally, regional non-government sexual assault services in Mandurah, Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, South Headland and Geraldton provide counselling to victims of sexual assault or historical sexual abuse. In addition to the government-run Sexual Assault Resource Centres, there are non-government centres throughout regional Western Australia²³⁸.
• The provision of funding for 14 Regional Coordination Responses to Family and Domestic Violence located in six metropolitan and eight regional areas. The purpose of regional coordination responses is to coordinate domestic and family violence services to achieve more consistent, appropriate and accountable agency responses. They involve both government and non-government agencies.
• Development and implementation of clinical guidelines to screen antenatal women for, and respond to, family violence at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women. Thirteen other metropolitan and regional hospitals also have access to the antenatal screening tool.
• The Department of Health Guidelines for Responding to Family and Domestic Violence for all public sector health workers.
• Family Violence Courts in Perth's six Magistrates Courts – Joondalup, Rockingham, Fremantle, Armadale, Midland and Perth Central Law Courts. These Family Violence Courts hear criminal domestic and family violence cases and offer offenders who plead guilty to their charge(s) the opportunity to participate in a court-supported behavioural change program prior to sentencing. These programs are provided by non-government agencies as well as the Department of Corrective Services, who are the primary providers of the Indigenous Family Violence Program. The Family Violence Court process is monitored by a case-management team, which monitors perpetrator progress in court-ordered programs and coordinates service responses to maximise victim safety. The team comprises the Victim Support Service, Community Justice Services, Western Australia Police, the Department for Child Protection and other support services²³⁹. The team:
  • meets regularly to talk about the safety of the victim(s) and the progress of the offender while the case is being monitored by the court;
  • exchanges relevant information about the case;
  • provides the victim(s) with support and the opportunity to appear in court if desired;
  • makes decisions on the support and help available to the victim(s) and the offender;
  • reports on the progress of the offender and makes recommendations to the court²⁴⁰.

  The case management team is supported by the Family Violence Service which also provides support for victims seeking Violence Restraining Orders in court, assists in safety planning and provides advocacy and referral services.

• Geraldton Family Violence Court, also known as the Barndimalgu Court. This is an alternative pre-sentencing court that hears domestic and family violence charges involving Aboriginal people. Respected members of the Aboriginal community work with the local magistrate to divert offenders to culturally appropriate programs aimed at addressing violent behaviour prior to final sentencing. The court is operated by the Department of the Attorney-General, with offender programs provided by the Department of Corrective Services, and is supported by the Geraldton Aboriginal Justice Agreement local group²⁴¹.
• The Department of Corrective Services has entered into contractual agreements with non-Government providers to facilitate men’s treatment programs in metropolitan and regional locations. These groups include men who are subject to the Family Violence Court process or who have been placed on community supervision orders with special conditions to attend a program. Perpetrators are referred through to the appropriate agency to undergo assessment and treatment.
• The Department of Corrective Services facilitates and manages the Indigenous Family Violence Program, a 20-week program with one session conducted per week. Referrals are made via the Family Violence Court process or direct from Community Justice Staff. The format of this program allows for entry points resulting in limited waiting time for new referrals. The program is based upon the Northern Territory Indigenous Family Violence Program as well as aspects of the Duluth model. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff from the Department of Corrective Services are the primary facilitators of this community based program, working alongside their non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues. Staff attend case-management meetings and liaise with victim services, keeping the safety of women and children as their primary focus. The Indigenous Family Violence Program is also facilitated in Casuarina and some regional prisons. The program in these settings is provided by Department of Corrective Services’ staff working in partnership with staff from non-Government agencies in regional locations.
• The Department for Child Protection funds a residential and therapeutic service for men who have been violent or abusive to their family. Men are encouraged to leave the family home and enter a fully supported residential program designed to help them change their violent or abusive behaviour over a three-month period. Individual counselling, domestic violence men's groups, fathering groups, substance abuse interventions and case management are all provided on site as a holistic response to men's violence.
• After a five year trial, the Department for Child Protection has begun placing child protection social workers in major metropolitan police stations to ensure victims get support and information quickly.
• Crisis accommodation, counselling and support services for victims of domestic and family violence provided by the Department for Child Protection via the Commonwealth/ state-funded Supported Accommodation Assistance Program.
• Men’s Domestic Violence Helpline offers a free telephone information, referral and counselling service for men who wish to change their violent behaviour.
• Women’s Domestic Violence Helpline provides free 24-hour telephone support and counselling for women experiencing domestic and family violence.
• The Legal Aid Western Australia Domestic Violence Legal Unit provides specialist services to victims of family violence. The unit provides advice and assistance to women seeking a restraining order against the perpetrator of violence, liaises with police to ensure appropriate criminal charges are laid against the perpetrator, provides initial counselling on legal rights and options and represents women in court for Restraining Order hearings where legal aid has been granted²⁴².
• Police issued protection orders (Police Orders) which allow police to issue on-the-spot temporary orders (for 24 and 72 hours), to remove perpetrators from the home.
• The Western Australian Police Family State Coordination Unit was created in the 2007-08 financial year to provide a coordinated approach across the Western Australian Police Force to policy, procedure and legislative requirements relating to domestic and family violence attendance and investigation.
• The Police Order Pilot Project in which police issuing a Police Order refer both the victim and/or perpetrator to a local domestic violence service (with their consent). Domestic violence service staff then contact the individuals to offer support, information, advocacy and referrals to other services as required.

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12.2.6 Prosecution

The Western Australian prosecution environment for domestic and family violence centres on the Acts Amendment (Family and Domestic Violence) Act 2004. In 2004, the Acts Amendment (Family and Domestic Violence) Act 2004 amended the Restraining Orders Act 1997, the Criminal Code Act and the Bail Act 1892 to afford greater protection to victims of domestic and family violence. Significant amendments in this Act include:

• introduction of Police Orders to allow early intervention and stop escalating domestic and family violence;
• increased penalties for domestic and family violence offences;
• removal of consent as a defence to breaching an order;
• ability to vary or cancel an interim violence restraining order;
• automatic granting of restraining orders in some circumstances;
• better protection of children in the community through a range of actions;
• mandatory requirements for police to investigate certain suspected incidents of domestic and family violence, and other new police powers;
• recognition of emotional abuse as a form of domestic and family violence.

Other important legislation pertaining to violence against women and their children include:

• Restraining Orders Act 1997. This encompasses the making of violence restraining orders and misconduct restraining orders and gives details pertaining to their application and court hearings dealing with them. It also discusses the registration of interstate and foreign restraining orders.
• Criminal Code Act Part V deals with offences against the person and those relating to marriage and parental rights and duties. These include assaults, sexual offences, offences against liberty, threats and stalking.
• Family Court Act 1997. Part 5, Division 10 of the Family Court Act 1997, is concerned with family violence. It deals specifically with the situation where an order under the Act about contact is not in agreement with a family violence order. It also addresses the powers available to the court to grant a family violence order which may affect orders made under this Act about contact²⁴³.
• Evidence Act 1906. This governs the use and admissibility of evidence in Western Australian courts.

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233. Department for Community Development, Family and Domestic Violence Unit, Western Australian Government, Perth,2008, viewed October 2008.
234. Department for Communities, Western Australian Women’s Safety Framework, Western Australian Government, Perth, 2008.
235. Department for Community Development, Western Australian Family and Domestic Violence State Strategic Plan 2004 – 2008, Western Australian Government, Perth, 2004.
236. Department of the Attorney-General Aboriginal Justice Agreement (www.department.dotag.wa.gov.au/w/western_australian_aboriginal_justice_agreement.aspx), Western Australian Government, Perth, 2008, viewed October 2008.
237. Department for Community Development, Western Australian Family and Domestic Violence Action Plan 2006–2007, Western Australian Government, Perth, 2006, p. 22.
238. Department of Health, Regional sexual assault services, Western Australian Government, Perth, 2008, viewed October 2008.
239. Department of the Attorney-General. Help for victims of family violence – the family violence court, Western Australian Government, Perth, 2007, viewed October 2008.
240. Ibid.
241. Department of the Attorney-General, Geraldton Family Violence Court, Western Australian Government, Perth, 2008, viewed October 2008.
242. Legal Aid Western Australia, The Domestic Violence Legal Unit, Western Australian Government, Perth, 2008, viewed October 2008.
243. Australian Family and Domestic Violence Clearinghouse, Australia Family and Domestic Violence Clearinghouse, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2007, viewed September 2008.