Elise Archer,Attorney-General
Family violence continues to affect too many people in our community, and eliminating it is a top priority for the Tasmanian Liberal Government.
That's why, as Attorney-General, I have today tabled the Family Violence Amendment Bill 2022, which will amend the existing legislative framework aimed at reducing levels of family violence in Tasmania and strengthen the way our justice system deals with repeat perpetrators of family violence.
We know from both national and state data that it is a small percentage of repeat family violence offenders that are responsible for the majority of family violence offending overall.
These reforms will send a strong and clear message that this violent and criminal behaviour will not be tolerated in Tasmania, and ensure those who repeatedly commit family violence offences against a single partner, or multiple and successive partners, are held to account for their heinous actions.
The Billwill create a new serial family violence perpetrator declaration that will;
- affect a perpetrator's capacity to possess a firearm;
- direct the court to consider electronic monitoring and/or behavioural change program participation;
- affect future parole prospects; and
- be considered as an aggravating factor at sentencing for any subsequent family violence offences committed, amongst other mechanisms available to the courts to deter this type of behaviour.
For a declaration to be made, a perpetrator will need to be aged 18 or older and have committed at least two indictable family violence offences, three summary-level family violence offences, or been convicted of the new crime of persistent family violence, which our Government introduced in 2018.
This delivers an important election commitment by our Government to provide a 'serial family violence perpetrator' declaration framework, and see Tasmania become the second Australian jurisdiction to implement this important protection.
The Bill also includes further improvements to the operation of the crime of persistent family violence, and it will allow a court to order mandated behaviour change program participation as part of a family violence order, as well as further amendments to strengthen the existing family violence framework.
Importantly, this will add to the significant reforms we have delivered in recent years to strengthen our laws to protect victim-survivors and eliminate family violence, including the reforms tabled in Parliament in recent weeks to introduce a stand-alone offence of non-fatal strangulation.
This confirms our ongoing commitment to ensuring our laws are strong and robust to protect victim-survivors of family violence, and ensure perpetrators appropriately face the consequences of their actions.
