Fears lack of electronic monitoring will draw DV perpetrators to county WA

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Western Australian Premier say alleged serious domestic violence perpetrators should be ‘put behind bars’ if mandatory electronic bracelets cannot be properly monitored. The comments came after an admission from the Department of Justice in a Bunbury court that it is not feasible to track alleged and serious DV offenders in regional areas.

Transcript

00:00Electronic monitoring became mandatory in December for WA's most serious family and

00:08domestic violence offenders. But just a few months in, there's already issues. Yesterday,

00:14a Bunbury court being told the Department of Justice does not have the capacity to

00:18electronically monitor such offenders outside of Perth, despite it being a legal requirement.

00:24In the Goldfields region, refuges are disappointed by the admission.

00:29It seems that, especially with the FDV reforms that are coming in, there's four pillars and it's

00:34very obvious, and this is an example of that, that there is a discrimination between what's

00:38happening in the regional space and what's happening in the metro space.

00:41The Premier says alleged offenders shouldn't be released if they can't be monitored.

00:45Quite frankly, if the courts cannot make an arrangement whereby an accused serial domestic

00:53violence offender cannot be properly monitored, they need to be put behind bars. That's simply

00:59the fact of the matter.

01:00He said limitations were anticipated under the legislation, with courts made aware of their

01:05power to make decisions about electronic devices. But the opposition says the legislation hasn't

01:11been properly enforced.

01:13It is now clear that if you live in Bunbury, if you live in Kalgoorlie, if you're in Kununurra,

01:19you may not be afforded those same safety or those same protections.

01:25Advocates say for alleged victims of family and domestic violence, monitoring devices provide

01:31a greater sense of safety, with concerns alleged victims in the regions are being let down without

01:38it.

01:38If the victim survivor knows that there's that real time monitoring of the perpetrator such

01:43that if he does breach the conditions and starts to demonstrate, you know, that he's making

01:48movement towards her home or to her workplace or even to the shopping centre, then police

01:53can act immediately.

01:55In a statement, the Department of Justice said where practical limitations were identified,

02:00these will be raised in court and that the department would not support the release of

02:04alleged domestic violence offenders if they pose an unacceptable risk.

Category

Transcript

Recommended