SUBMISSION Department of Justice and Attorney General (QLD): Feedback on the consultation draft of the Domestic and Family Violence Protection (Combating Coercive Control) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This submission provides feedback on operational and technical issues related to the consultation draft of the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Protection (Combating Coercive Control) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 (“the draft Bill”). ANROWS’s submission draws on rigorous peer-reviewed evidence, including key reports from our body of research and a previous ANROWS submission to the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce.
ANROWS’s submission commends the effort to strengthen existing legislation in Queensland, noting that the draft Bill includes many provisions that, when applied appropriately, could increase protection for and improve the experiences of victims and survivors in contact with the legal system. ANROWS notes that the request for feedback invited input only on operational and technical issues with the draft Bill. ANROWS’s submission focuses on the following operational issues, highlighting the following:
- Guidance and training for judicial officers is necessary to ensure that legislation is implemented as intended and to avoid unintended consequences for victims and survivors.
- Victims’ and survivors’ engagements with the legal system may be improved, but systemic issues remain, including the disjointed nature of the legal system and the barriers to accessing the legal system that are faced by women who experience multiple and intersecting forms of structural disadvantage.
- Police play a key role and will require training and support to reform police responses, without which legislative reform will have limited impact.
- A focus on legislative change may entrench a shift away from developing, supporting and resourcing other approaches, including responses to women who use violence in response to violence perpetrated against them, meaningful interventions for perpetrators, and community-led solutions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- Specific lessons can be learned from other jurisdictions on operational issues.
ANROWS later provided further feedback on the second consultation draft of the draft Bill. This submission is available here: Response to the Domestic and Family Violence (Combating Coercive Control) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
Suggested citation
Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety. (2022). Re: Feedback on the consultation draft of the Domestic and Family Violence Protection (Combating Coercive Control) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 [Submission]. ANROWS.