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Speaker 1: We've talked a lot over the last year and a

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Speaker 1: half about domestic violence in Australia and South Australia as well, obviously,

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Speaker 1: but at least one woman a week murdered by current

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Speaker 1: or former partner in Australia the first five months of

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Speaker 1: this year. An unusually high number of killings allegedly by

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Speaker 1: men's violence has reignited national attention over the need to

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Speaker 1: better address women's risk of fatal violence, and a study

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Speaker 1: has been done by Monash University to identify potential intervention

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Speaker 1: points and the risk of a perpetrator's behavior. They have

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Speaker 1: some incredible findings. The lead author is Professor Kate Fitzgibbon

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Speaker 1: from Monash.

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Speaker 2: Kate, good morning, good morning, Thank you so much for having.

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Speaker 1: Me, Thank you for your time. Tell me what you've

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Speaker 1: found in examining essentially judicial rulings and sentencing.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so, our study looked at two hundred and thy

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Speaker 2: five sentencing judgments in cases where a male in Australia

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Speaker 2: had killed their current or for female intimate partner, And

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Speaker 2: what we were really interested to understand is where there

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Speaker 2: may be points of interaction with the system prior to

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Speaker 2: these killings, so that we can improve our early intervention

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Speaker 2: and prevention responses, and we found that there are many engaged.

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Speaker 2: In over seventy percent of the cases that we examined,

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Speaker 2: the offender had at least two interactions with a point

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Speaker 2: of the criminal justice system, be at the court, police,

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Speaker 2: child protection before they killed their partner.

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Speaker 1: Okay, and that should then be a red flag, I

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Speaker 1: suppose to some.

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Speaker 2: Degree, absolutely so. Certainly, for a very long time, we've

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Speaker 2: known in research that very rarely are these killings following

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Speaker 2: a snapping or an out of the blue use of

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Speaker 2: violence by a perpetrator. This means they are inherently preventable.

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Speaker 2: And if we can prove the ways in which our system,

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Speaker 2: at all of its points assesses perpetrator risk, identifies the risk,

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Speaker 2: and manages that risk over time, then we should certainly

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Speaker 2: be able to drive down the horrific number of women

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Speaker 2: that are killed by men known to them.

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Speaker 1: How do we manage it? Though? That's the key question,

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Speaker 1: I suppose, isn't it?

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Speaker 2: It definitely is, and I think the research certainly shows

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Speaker 2: that it's no one single point. So we need to

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Speaker 2: ensure that we have a robust, whole of system response

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Speaker 2: to men's violence against women. We need to ensure that

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Speaker 2: our criminal justice system is risk in form that at

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Speaker 2: each of those points we are seeking to identify, assess,

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Speaker 2: and manage risk over time, but also to keep the

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Speaker 2: perpetrators risk visible, and that involves the service system as well.

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Speaker 2: We found in our study that many of the cases

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Speaker 2: the offenders were also known to the service system, So

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Speaker 2: in sixty three percent of cases this end they had

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Speaker 2: a history of alcohol and other drug issues. In forty

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Speaker 2: six percent of cases there was a mental health issue.

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Speaker 2: But also in twenty nine percent of cases, the judge

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Speaker 2: cited that the offender had experienced intergenerational violence themselves. So

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Speaker 2: this really shows us that we need to be starting

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Speaker 2: much earlier and that working with children and young people

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Speaker 2: that have experienced violence to not only provide crisis supports,

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Speaker 2: but also to really critically support their healing and recovery

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Speaker 2: is actually a violence prevention strategy as well.

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Speaker 1: By experiencing intergenerational violence, do you mean the male was

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Speaker 1: a victim of that or was he potentially a witness

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Speaker 1: to that in the home.

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Speaker 2: So we know that now where children are growing up

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Speaker 2: in homes where there is domestic, family and sexual violence,

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Speaker 2: regardless of whether that violence is directed specifically at them.

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Speaker 2: There is a recognition that by virtual being and that environment,

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Speaker 2: that they are victim survivors in their own right. So

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Speaker 2: in these cases, we know that they were experiencing violence

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Speaker 2: during their childhood in a range of different ways, and

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Speaker 2: that's certainly going to span a range of different severities

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Speaker 2: and intensities across the sample. But it does show us

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Speaker 2: the importance of working with children as victim survivors in

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Speaker 2: their own right to ensure that we have trauma informed

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Speaker 2: and child centered practices.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I don't imagine there'd be many blokes

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Speaker 1: who would start a relationship thinking this is going to

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Speaker 1: end badly and you know, I want it to end

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Speaker 1: badly or whatever. There'd be very few of them. In fact,

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Speaker 1: that wouldn't happen at all. I wouldn't think. So how

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Speaker 1: do you get to those people and say there's a

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Speaker 1: potential problem here just sitting in a bottle waiting to

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Speaker 1: be uncorked, Because I mean, that's that's kind of how

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Speaker 1: it sounds.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's really important, and we know that there are

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Speaker 2: a range of different strategies. We have perpetrated interventions such

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Speaker 2: as men's behavior change programs that some men will opti into,

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Speaker 2: but also that sometimes courts or child protection will recommend

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Speaker 2: people into and that's an opportunity for intervention. There is

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Speaker 2: also the Men's Line and the Men's Referral Service where

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Speaker 2: individuals who are worried about their behavior within a relationship

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Speaker 2: can proactively contact that service and receive counseling and support

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Speaker 2: and referral into services. It also means that across things

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Speaker 2: like alcohol and drug services, mental health supports, if those

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Speaker 2: also a domestic and family violence aware and informed, they

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Speaker 2: can also pick up on problematic attitudes and behaviors and

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Speaker 2: be providing referrals as well.

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Speaker 1: Do you think many people are proactive though, to be

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Speaker 1: seeking help in advance.

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Speaker 2: We have seen it over some recing is where they

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Speaker 2: have been spikes in things like men calling up the

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Speaker 2: Men's lines for example, but probably not nearly as much

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Speaker 2: as we'd like. So we definitely need to ensure that

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Speaker 2: we have a system that hold men to account for

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Speaker 2: the use of violence, that we create a community awareness

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Speaker 2: and attitudes that are not supportive of violence, but also

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Speaker 2: critically that we have a response sector that is funders

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Speaker 2: to provide the services desperately needed by victim survivors as well.

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Speaker 2: So that they can navigate their safety in those relationships.

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Speaker 1: So understanding the life history, I mean, that's absolutely crucial

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Speaker 1: to then move into the next step of putting solutions

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Speaker 1: in place or interventions in place to stop the terrible

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Speaker 1: incidents that we've seen occurring.

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Speaker 2: Definitely, those early interventions are absolutely important. We see from

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Speaker 2: this research that more often than not, these acts advance

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Speaker 2: don't occur out of the blue, so that gives some

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Speaker 2: hope that there is prevention is possible. We just need

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Speaker 2: to build in those robust touch points and prevention mechanisms.

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Speaker 1: What happens to your research now, professor? Does it go to,

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Speaker 1: for instance, the federal government, to one of the body's

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Speaker 1: sort of been established out of even the Royal Commission

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Speaker 1: we've got one here in South Australia looking at domestic violence.

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Speaker 1: I imagine your findings would be quite instrumental and helpful

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Speaker 1: to them.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. We have been in conversation with and really look

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Speaker 2: forward to having conversations with policy stakeholders and members of

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Speaker 2: parliament across Australia. We know that Australia has a national

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Speaker 2: planned and Violence against Women and Children that is extremely

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Speaker 2: ambitious and we hope this research is instrumental in informing

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Speaker 2: and supporting the actions that come out of that plan.

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Speaker 1: Good, all right, we'll see where it ends up. Thank you,

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Speaker 1: professor for your time today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having me.

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Speaker 1: Professor Kake Fitzgibbon their report lead author, the report looking

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Speaker 1: at well Securing women's lives is what it's all about.

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Speaker 1: And new report examining the intervention points and risk of

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Speaker 1: a perpetrator taking action terrible action in intimate femicide cases

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Speaker 1: in Australia. They've study two hundred and thirty five cases

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Speaker 1: of men convicted and found that in quite a number.

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Speaker 1: In fact, twenty nine percent the offender had experienced their

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Speaker 1: own into generational violence, fifty three percent the perpetrator had

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Speaker 1: a history of alcohol abuse, forty one percent a history

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Speaker 1: of drug abuse, forty six percent a history of mental illness.

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Speaker 1: But seventy percent had two interactions with the criminal justice system. Already,

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Speaker 1: that's the most concerning figure of all I suppose, or

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Speaker 1: at least the red flag, the biggest red flag in

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Speaker 1: all of that report from Monash University