A LOCAL leader in the fight against domestic violence has made a plea for more services in the region following the introduction of new laws, which will lead to tougher penalties for offenders who breach intervention orders.
The legislation – which could see repeat offenders face up to four years in jail for committing the offence – came into effect in South Australia yesterday.
Attorney-General Vickie Chapman announced the new laws, which are expected to give the authorities stronger tools to tackle repeat and serious offenders.
“From today, anyone who breaches an intervention order repeatedly will face hefty fines or prison time,” Ms Chapman said.
“This will send a clear message that family violence is not tolerated by our community and people who continually defy these orders will face the consequences.”
Centacare Limestone Coast Domestic Violence Service manager Susie Smith welcomed the new law, which enhances the criminal justice response to domestic and family violence incidents.
“Higher penalties for breaches of Intervention Orders increases the level of accountability levelled at the perpetrator and this is a positive direction,” Ms Smith said.
However, Ms Smith said the law is only a small step in the fight against domestic violence in the South East region.
“The challenges continue to be the relentless demand for services, as more women are reporting and identifying violence and abuse in their relationships,” Ms Smith said.
“What is as equally important in a safety system is the capacity of the specialist skilled domestic violence workforce that work with women to appropriately assess risk and plan for safety.
“This workforce needs an urgent increase in rural and regional areas such as ours.”
She said the Limestone Coast Domestic Violence Service was unable to provide anything other than a phone service to most women outside the Mount Gambier city limits.
“We know women in more remote and rural areas of our region are simply not being identified as at risk, yet we know they are much more at risk by nature of their isolation and the other factors that increase risk in more outlying areas such as perpetrator access to firearms and less surveillance,” she said.
“Ongoing trauma based specialist counselling and support, which we know is vital to maintain safety, is not available to women in this region other than a national phone line.
“We see women come back into the system one or two years down the track as they have not had the support they so badly need.”
In addition to the new laws surrounding the breach of intervention orders, a new stand-alone criminal offence of strangulation came into force yesterday.
“We know that strangulation is a precursor for domestic violence homicides and should not be tolerated in our communities,” Ms Chapman said.
“By creating a separate offence, courts will have greater discretion to treat this as a more serious offence.
“This new offence also allows Police to properly arrest domestic violence offenders who can be appropriately punished for their actions.”
Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell said he had fully-supported the Liberal party’s push to have the bills passed through parliament.
“Anything we can do to wipe out domestic violence is a good step forward,” Mr Bell said.
“People need to take this issue seriously and I welcome the new legislation, which I actually think is long overdue.”
Mr Bell praised the work of members in the community who work to reduce the incidence of domestic violence in the Limestone Coast.
“I think we have amazing people working our community around domestic violence,” Mr Bell said.
“I am happy to do anything I can to support them whether that be regarding legislation or other areas.
“It is important to continually send strong messages that domestic violence will not be tolerated.”
