Tuesday, 27 May 2025

 Chris COUZENS (Geelong) (10:46): I am pleased to rise to speak on the report by the Legal and Social Issues Committee inquiry into capturing data on people who use family violence in Victoria. I want to thank and acknowledge the secretariat for their work on this important inquiry: Jess Strout, committee manager; Katherine Murtagh, research officer; Caitlin Connally, research officer; Danielle Broadhurst, admin and research assistant; and Fred Toll, a graduate recruit. Their research skills, guidance and support for the committee members has been exceptional.

I also thank and acknowledge the members of the committee: the member for Lara, the member for Clarinda, the member for Bayswater, the member for Eildon, the member for Mornington and the member for Euroa. I particularly want to thank the chair of the committee, the member for Lara, who put an extraordinary amount of work and knowledge into this inquiry.

The committee received 72 submissions and seven additional documents. We also held seven days of public hearings with 75 witnesses. The report’s recommendations support the Victorian government to adopt a systematic and strategic approach to improving data collection, sharing, use and analysis about people using family violence. Inquiry stakeholders identified many benefits to the government adopting this approach, including:

•   informing big picture decision-making – including guiding the Victorian and Australian Governments’ evidence-based, effective and targeted approach to ending family violence.

•   tracking outcomes and measuring efficacy – tracking progress against the Victorian Government’s family violence reforms to understand what works, and measuring efficacy of interventions to better inform support for people using family violence leading to behaviour change.

•   understanding and providing support and services across the system – better assessing, managing and developing strategies on risk for victim survivors, providing them with programs and keeping them safe.

•   enabling nuanced and normalised discussion – challenging stereotypes and myths, and normalising work preventing further violence and research and data collection on perpetration of family violence.

•   understanding trends – including common characteristics and risk factors for people using family violence, engagement with services and systems, re-occurring offending, high-risk individuals and referral pathways. This can hold people who use violence accountable, keep them in view and identify people who use family violence which are currently undetected. Understanding trends can also inform the development of rehabilitation and education programs.

•   understanding and managing demand for services – inform regional and statewide understanding of current and future service demand (and required resource allocation), identify service gaps and opportunities for innovation. This can be used to plan, design and evaluate services, improve client outcomes and reduce the administrative burden on frontline services.

•   tailoring services for different communities – better understand community need and prevalence to plan and deliver programs, tailor interventions, programs and systems, and develop more effective interventions and nuanced responses that disrupt family violence trajectories.

•   empowering First Nations communities – data on family violence in First Nations communities can be used to prioritise prevention and early intervention by addressing drivers such as racism and intergenerational trauma. The Government should support the development and implementation of Indigenous Data Sovereignty.

Addressing family violence is a collective responsibility. The intersections of family violence with different aspects of people’s lives mean that policy strategies, plans, frameworks and ongoing reform activity must align across different sectors. The report’s recommendations aim to increase understanding about people using family violence and strengthen the Victorian government’s response to family violence in our communities.