Momentum building for Clare's law to be introduced in NSW

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Momentum appears to be growing in NSW to introduce a domestic violence disclosure scheme, also known as Clare’s law. It was enacted in the UK 10 years ago, allowing individuals to find out if their current or former partner has a history of violent offending.  The law was promised by the previous NSW state government two years ago - but nothing has happened since. A petition to implement it has now attracted almost 20-thousand signatures. Domestic violence advocate Jo Cooper has been campaigning on social media but says the backlash against it has been immense.

Transcript

00:00Backhole momentum appears to be growing in New South Wales to introduce a domestic violence

00:07disclosure scheme, also known as Clare's Law. It's interesting that it actually was enacted

00:14in the UK about a decade ago, allowing individuals to find out if their current or former partner

00:20has a history of violent offending.

00:22The law was actually promised by the previous New South Wales state government two years

00:26ago, but not much has happened since, and a petition to implement it has now attracted

00:30almost 20,000 signatures. Domestic violence advocate Joe Cooper has been campaigning on

00:36social media, but says the backlash against it has been immense.

00:41The community is pulling through, but we still have just over 2,000 signatures left until

00:47we get to the 20,000. And we need the 20,000 because we cannot give government any excuse

00:55not to table this, not to discuss it, not to acknowledge that the people of New South

01:01Wales want this law in place.

01:04Karen Bevan is the CEO of the Domestic Violence Support and Advocacy Group, Full Stop, who

01:09joins us now. Karen, good morning.

01:10Good morning, Tom.

01:11As Fawzi has said, this is based on a model from the UK. Can I ask you firstly, how exactly

01:16Clare's Law is supposed to work?

01:19So it really is about giving women, primarily women, let's face it, in relationships the

01:26opportunity to check if their partner has a history of violent offending. Now, what we

01:31know about that is that what that will achieve is allow us to know about those people who've

01:36been reported for their violent offending and perhaps had police action taken against

01:40them. That's a pretty small number of the people who commit these kinds of offences.

01:46So it would, I think, you know, allow victim survivors who are really concerned about perhaps

01:53high levels of violence or someone who's showing some particularly concerning behaviour, they

01:58might find out about a person with a long history. But for many victim survivors, there will be

02:05no information about the person they're in a relationship with.

02:08So given that, are you supportive of the scheme in principle? With respect, would it actually

02:14change much given the issues that you've just mentioned?

02:17Look, there's real potential for some victim survivors to get information they need.

02:21Let's be clear about that. And I think, you know, we need to do some different things in

02:26New South Wales because we aren't seeing DV rates go down. I think Joe makes a really great

02:32point that we need to talk about it. We need it out there in debate. And we really support

02:37that kind of victim survivor advocacy. What we worry about is whether the scheme's going to provide

02:43people with a false sense of security, if they don't have information about their partner,

02:48or we also worry that it might lead to a sense that it's women's job to make sure their person

02:55they're in a relationship with isn't violent. You know, there's enough victim blaming out there,

03:00and that does concern us.

03:01That idea, yeah, well, you know, you should have checked or you were warned, that sort of thing.

03:05I mean, the hidden nature of domestic violence could get in the way of this right.

03:10This sort of behaviour is unlikely in many instances to come to the attention

03:14of criminal justice agencies. So, I mean, is that a fair point? Because that was the argument.

03:19Monash University did a study into this a few years ago and said they actually questioned

03:22whether it would work at all. Yeah, look, we've seen some evaluation

03:25across schemes in Australia and schemes in the UK. And the take up is reasonably low,

03:31but we are learning more every day about particularly, you know, domestic violence,

03:36homicides and risk factors. So, all of this could be part of a broader understanding of

03:42elevated risk. But what we really need is good frontline responses when people seek help.

03:49Great information in communities about, you know, what are some of the risk factors for

03:54domestic violence and what does it look like. We need family, friends, community to respond

03:59positively when people seek help. And honestly, we need our frontline to be well resourced,

04:04to be there straight up when people seek help. We also need our police to be responsive,

04:12thoughtful and supportive and believing of victim survivors. If all of those elements are in place,

04:17this kind of disclosure scheme could add that additional level of protection. I think it's

04:23important that we do debate it. And I really, you know, what I'd say is victim survivors of domestic

04:28violence are some of the most fierce advocates for change. And we want to get behind them in their

04:35seeking new solutions to these challenges. But at the same time, we've got to be realistic about

04:42what this will achieve. But if it saves one woman's life, then I'd really like to have the conversation

04:48about it. As you mentioned, there have been evaluations over time. Monash University did one.

04:52What about the balance here between right to protection and right to privacy? Because Monash

04:59made the point with respect that, you know, people, suspects have the right to control their own

05:05personal information, right? Whether people might like it or not. So is that right to privacy going

05:11to potentially get in the way of a scheme like this? Yeah, look, I think this is a really complex one.

05:17And it's it's really the core of the issue we're always dealing with in domestic family and sexual

05:22violence, in that, you know, our legal systems were really built at a time that wasn't fit for

05:27purpose for what we now know about what we believe about people's rights and particularly women's rights

05:33to safety. So we are still really struggling with that. One question I always want to ask is,

05:40is it justice if one person's harm is so great that another person's privacy is protected or another

05:48person is seen as more important? I think that's why we need to have this conversation right out in

05:54the public. That's why this petition perhaps needs to go the next level, because these are the kinds of

06:00issues we need to debate and we need to get the best legal minds to help us find that balance.

06:04Karen, pleasure having you on. Thank you very much for joining us. Thanks, Tom.

06:07Karen Bevan there, CEO of Full Stop, the Domestic Violence Support and Advocacy Group. If this story

06:11has raised any issues for you, I just want to give you this number. You can get help by calling the

06:15National Sexual Assault and Family Violence Counselling Helpline. Those details are on your screen now.

06:211800RESPECT 1800 737 732

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