Today’s release of the latest Domestic Violence Death Review Team is a damning indictment of lack of action by the NSW Liberal Nationals to tackle domestic and family violence.
Only two in five of the NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team’s (DVDRT) recommendations made over the last 10 years have been implemented, according to the DVDRT’s latest report released today.
Since its first report in 2011-2012, the DVDRT has made 122 recommendations aimed at improving the State’s responses to domestic violence and reducing the number of people, mainly women and children, killed each year.
The NSW Government supported, or supported in principle, 98% of those recommendations, but to date have delivered outcomes for only 40% of them.
Today’s report highlighted recommendations aimed at primary prevention for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been ignored, with the majority of them “still awaiting substantive action”.
The NSW Liberal Nationals have stalled action on recommendations for First Nations communities by referring them to be considered alongside Closing the Gap targets for 2031 – a full 20 years after the recommendations were originally made.
Shadow Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Jodie Harrison MP said the report was a sobering read and reiterated the urgent need for action.
"Taking twenty years to respond to calls for action is simply not good enough, particularly when we are seeing incidences of domestic violence rise," Ms Harrison said.
"These statistics will not change without political will. Labor reiterate our commitment to take action against Domestic Violence in NSW."
In Australia on average one woman is murdered every ten days by an intimate partner, with 31,775 recorded incidents of domestic violence-related assaults in the 12 months to June 2022 in NSW, and 137 domestic violence-related murders in the five years to December 2021.
The NSW Domestic and Family Violence Plan identifies that the last available figures show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 32 times more likely than non-Aboriginal women to be hospitalised due to family violence injuries.
The latest statistics released by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) highlighted the need for urgent action, with domestic violence assault and sexual assault rates increasing significantly across the State over the last five years.
The Government’s response is also failing the children survivors of domestic violence homicide. Despite repeated recommendations for increased specialist and coordinated support for child survivors, the problem persists. Team members expressed their “frustration” at having to make multiple recommendations regarding this same issue.
