Statutes Amendment (Attorney-General's Portfolio) Bill – Second Reading speech

Thursday 17 November 2022 

S.E. ANDREWS (Gibson) (12:25): I rise to speak on the Statutes Amendment (Attorney-General's Portfolio) Bill 2022. This takes the most urgent sections from last year's Statutes Amendment (Attorney-General's Portfolio and Other Justice Measures) Bill to ensure that government and related legislation continue to operate as business as usual. The bill will provide more flexibility to our courts, clarify an inconsistency in legislation, and remove an obsolete reference to a repealed definition. What it does is demonstrate a government that is committed to ensuring our community is safe. 

One of the changes in this bill ensures prisoners sentenced to less than five years' imprisonment for a serious drug offence are not entitled to automatic release on parole at the end of their non-parole period. The decision on whether to grant parole will be at the discretion of the Parole Board, which is the appropriate body to assess whether the offender can re-enter the community. 

I am proud to be part of a Malinauskas Labor government that is committed to progressive reforms to ensure that the victims of crime and the most vulnerable in our community have fair and safe access to the justice system. In our first eight months in office, we have already taken action, including passing legislation, as per our election commitment, to strengthen Carly's Law and increase penalties for a range of child sex offences. The state government has also provided $150,000 in funding for the Victim Support Service Court Companions initiative, and— 

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S.E. ANDREWS: I thank the staff and volunteers of the Victim Support Service for their work to support our constituents. It is true that all women, regardless of age, background, residential location or wealth, will very likely experience or witness domestic and family violence. It is important, therefore, that as a government we have delivered on our election commitment to restore funding to the Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service. The service provides support to women affected by domestic and family violence, primarily relating to helping women apply for intervention orders and ending tenancy agreements. 

Additionally, the state government is currently in the final stages of negotiation for funding the Women's Legal Service to provide face-to-face legal advice and education to vulnerable women at risk of or experiencing domestic violence and family violence in the northern and southern regions. 

I can only imagine the fear of victims who have been subjected to domestic and family violence, to know that the offender is in society, potentially tracking them down to further perpetrate violence. The government will be introducing legislation to ensure monitoring of domestic violence defendants on bail. I want to take this opportunity to thank the staff and volunteers at all domestic and family violence services across our state for the work they do supporting women and children. 

Workplace sexual harassment and discrimination will affect one in three women in our community and, as we know, it can occur in small and large businesses, not-for-profit organisations and right here in state parliament. Recognising this, the state government is currently in the final stages of negotiation for funding for the Working Women's Centre to provide frontline support to address workplace sexual harassment and discrimination. Centre director, Abbey Kendall, recently told the ABC, and I quote: 

In the last financial year 14 per cent of inquiries to the centre were about sexual harassment and a further 38 per cent were about sexual harassment and discrimination. 

I am proud to have been a committee member of the Working Women's Centre. I have seen firsthand the important work they do assisting women who are underpaid, mistreated or abused by their employers. Abbey and her entire team do a fantastic job and I thank them deeply on behalf of all women who have benefited from their work. The state government will be introducing legislation to make the experience of domestic violence a ground of discrimination in the Equal Opportunity Act. 

An issue that is gaining recognition but has been occurring in our community for generations, coercive control, describes the systematic pattern of behaviour used by a person to dominate and control another person, usually an intimate partner. It is almost exclusively perpetrated by men against women and includes emotional and financial abuse, stalking and intimidation. 

It is very difficult for women to escape from a partner exercising coercive control. This behaviour affects a diverse group of women, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, women from migrant backgrounds, women living in rural, regional and remote areas, and LGBTIQA+ people. This is why our Malinauskas Labor government will be introducing legislation to criminalise coercive control. 

Finally, our government has committed to investigating changes to victim impact statements. We have supported in principle changes to the Sentencing Act 2017 to provide that victim impact statements should not be edited for admissibility purposes and that it should be left to the judge or magistrate to exercise discretion as to admissibility of content in a victim impact statement. 

As a responsible government, we will be undertaking consultation on the proposed reform before progressing any legislative changes. We are a government that puts the victims first, protects their rights, provides them with appropriate support and assistance and ensures that contemporary laws are in place to protect our community, particularly women and children. I commend this bill to the house.