Family violence prevention in the south west will get the attention and support it deserves under a Labor Government, State Member for Western Victoria, Gayle Tierney said.
Labor recently announced it would establish Australia’s first Royal Commission into family violence if it wins the State Election in November.
Family violence is not just a national emergency – but a local one, too. In the south west family violence incidents have increased by 10.26 per cent in the last year.
A Royal Commission into family violence will find the answers for its prevention and repair the broken system from the ground up.
The Commission will investigate criminal law, corrections, courts, community services, health services, refuges and housing, the school curriculum and the tools available to Victoria Police.
The panel will be headed by an eminent Australian judge with experience in family law. A panel of survivors and support providers will advise the Commission.
Quotes attributable to Gayle Tierney:
“Family violence hurts our whole community – police, courts, workplaces, schools, and sadly, our homes and our children.”
“The current system doesn’t protect the vulnerable or punish the guilty.
“We must do more and only a Royal Commission will give the experts a voice and find the answers we need.”
Key facts:
• Family Violence costs our economy $3.4 billion a year and constitutes 40 per cent of police work.
• It’s the leading contributor of death and disability in Australian women under 45.
• Three quarters of all assaults against women happen in the home.
• One woman is murdered by her current or former partner, every week.