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Speaker 1: The first report handed to Federal Parliament on domestic violence

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Speaker 1: in Australia has been completed and is before the Parliament. Now,

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Speaker 1: our first Domestic Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner, Mikayla Cronan,

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Speaker 1: who compiled the document, joins me now, Commissioner.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Matthew.

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Speaker 1: It's obviously very important. I'm sure politicians will give this

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Speaker 1: the absolute credence it deserves. Key points from your perspective,

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Speaker 1: what are they look?

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Speaker 2: I think and I think you're right. I think that

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Speaker 2: we're getting we're getting the due attention, and that our

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Speaker 2: leaders are stepping up and acknowledging that we all, every

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Speaker 2: bit of our system needs to do better. We need

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Speaker 2: We've seen too many women and children lose their lives

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Speaker 2: and live with the impact of domestic family and sexual

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Speaker 2: violence and the pain that it causes individuals and communities.

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Speaker 2: Three of the key themes that I was really keen

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Speaker 2: to emphasize from our first yearly port Parliament is the

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Speaker 2: importance of listening to those women and children, amplifying the

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Speaker 2: voices of people who have direct experiences both of domestic

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Speaker 2: family and sexual violence, but also the system's responses to them.

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Speaker 2: Those people know what works and what doesn't those people

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Speaker 2: know what the solutions are, what things would make a

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Speaker 2: difference in their lives, what would help reduce harm for them.

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Speaker 2: So that's a really key theme for me. One of

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Speaker 2: the other things we've talked about is the importance of

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Speaker 2: really the men who are stepping up, and that we

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Speaker 2: need to be engaging more with men in every aspect

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Speaker 2: of ending domestic and family of varments. So that includes

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Speaker 2: holding men accountable for behavior, but it also includes providing

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Speaker 2: more options and services to men when they put up

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Speaker 2: their hand and say I'm concerned about my behavior, when

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Speaker 2: they recognize that they're not really you know that they

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Speaker 2: need they need help. We need services there that are

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Speaker 2: able to provide those those responds, and we need men's leadership.

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Speaker 1: That's part of it, isn't it, Because I know you've

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Speaker 1: said women tell you consistently, please work with our men

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Speaker 1: to make them better, no doubt.

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Speaker 2: Oh absolutely. And some of it is about that we

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Speaker 2: need to be listening to men who talk about that

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Speaker 2: healing and recovery from childhood traumas themselves from past traumas

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Speaker 2: actually can help interrupt the cycle of violence. I'm not

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Speaker 2: saying that those things cause domestic family and sexual violence.

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Speaker 2: Many people who were abused as children don't go on

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Speaker 2: to cause harm, but we do know that many do,

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Speaker 2: and that every point of intervention we have to take

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Speaker 2: the opportunity to stop the cycle of violence.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely well in that regard, then you've said for it

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Speaker 1: to be regarded domestic violence as terrorism, to be treated

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Speaker 1: in that way, not to have the alarm of terrorism,

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Speaker 1: but to have the resources that are revailable to combat

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Speaker 1: terrorism to combat domestic violence.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, Matthew. It's not the same domestic violence.

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Speaker 2: Domestic foundly and sexual violence is not terrorism. And the

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Speaker 2: people on the street, people who are affected by it,

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Speaker 2: wouldn't understand if we talked about it in quite that way.

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Speaker 2: What they do understand is that it is as serious,

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Speaker 2: it is killing more people in our country, and that

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Speaker 2: we need to use the tools that governments and the

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Speaker 2: business sector and the data that they have to track

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Speaker 2: to be aware of red flags and to be intervening

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Speaker 2: when we can do.

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Speaker 1: We know how many cases of DV there are per Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure we've got reported figures.

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Speaker 2: That's a really good question, and it's one of the

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Speaker 2: issues that we've raised in the report. We don't have it.

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Speaker 2: We don't have comprehensive data part it. We do have data,

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Speaker 2: as you say, about the number of people who report,

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Speaker 2: who call the police, who turn up to hospitals, but

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Speaker 2: we also know that many people don't do that, they

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Speaker 2: don't go to the police, they don't turn up hospitals,

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Speaker 2: So we don't really understand the level of the prevalence,

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Speaker 2: and we need to understand that better.

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Speaker 1: The reason I raise that is because the report highlights

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Speaker 1: that nine thousand domestic family and sexual violence workers who

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Speaker 1: are helping people who have been caught up in this

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Speaker 1: compared to tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands,

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Speaker 1: tens in police, hundreds of thousands in the healthcare system

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Speaker 1: helping people, So that number needs to ramp up dramatically.

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Speaker 1: I would dare.

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Speaker 2: Suggest we're trying to make two points with regard to that.

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Speaker 2: One is, absolutely we need the sector needs more resources

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Speaker 2: to be able to respond to the level of demand

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Speaker 2: that they are experiencing. As you say, it's a very

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Speaker 2: small fraction of the size of the other parts of

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Speaker 2: the system. The other point we're trying to make, though,

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Speaker 2: is that those other parts of the system, so the

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Speaker 2: police workforce, the health workforce. They've got a real role

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Speaker 2: to play. They are working with people who are either

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Speaker 2: experiencing or perpetrating domestic, family and sexual violence all the time,

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Speaker 2: and we need them to see it as their business

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Speaker 2: to be intervening and helping as.

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Speaker 1: Well police monitoring of potential offenders. You've suggested this in

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Speaker 1: the report. How would that work.

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Speaker 2: One of the things that there are some really promising

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Speaker 2: work underway is sharing of information, is recognizing where the

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Speaker 2: red flags are and sharing not just police are getting

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Speaker 2: better at sharing information with other police forces across the country.

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Speaker 2: What we need is domestic violence services to be sharing

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Speaker 2: information with police, and police to be taking that to

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Speaker 2: have systems set up so that we're sharing wherever we're

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Speaker 2: gathering data, because they have very different data and very

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Speaker 2: different information. And like terrorism, what you need to do

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Speaker 2: is bring all of the bits of information together so

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Speaker 2: you get a full picture. We know that it's I

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Speaker 2: mean all of the stuff about see something say something

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Speaker 2: means that people might see a fragment of a situation.

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Speaker 2: And if you bring all of those perspectives together, you

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Speaker 2: suddenly realize that it's actually very high risk, much higher

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Speaker 2: risk than what one perspective into a situation.

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Speaker 1: Is are we good at recognizing red flags and acting

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Speaker 1: on them, because that seems to be where everything falls

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Speaker 1: down when you think of Hannah Clark, for instance, and

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Speaker 1: Molly tie Hurst. People fall through the cracks like that.

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Speaker 2: Matthew. It's very distressing reading coronial in quest reports and

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Speaker 2: death review reports when it's patently obvious when you look

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Speaker 2: back after there has been a death at what looks

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Speaker 2: like it's the hindsights of fabulous thing. Right when you

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Speaker 2: look back and there are absolutely red flags. You can

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Speaker 2: see all of those things. We need to get much

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Speaker 2: better at seeing them and catching them early and responding. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. So what happens now with the report, Parliament considers

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Speaker 1: it and hopefully action on the back of that.

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Speaker 2: There's lots of action underway already. What we hope we're

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Speaker 2: doing with this first report is highlighting where we think

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Speaker 2: there are some real opportunities to accelerate progress and to

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Speaker 2: and to share where there's good practice. So we're looking

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Speaker 2: forward to continuing to work with government as they implement

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Speaker 2: the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children?

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Speaker 1: Should surveillance be a thing? Should should people be watched?

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Speaker 1: I know I've asked you this, but I just want

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Speaker 1: a really clear answer. Should people be surveilled people in

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Speaker 1: danger of committing crimes? Men primarily?

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Speaker 2: I think there are some examples where that where communities

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Speaker 2: say that that's working well for them. The problem, Matthew

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Speaker 2: with surveillance is you need a good response afterwards. So

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Speaker 2: it's not an answer on its own unless if you've

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Speaker 2: got people who are ready to respond to situations, who've

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Speaker 2: who've been educated, who've got the right attitudes, Unless if

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Speaker 2: you've got services ready to go. Surveillance in itself isn't

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Speaker 2: going to solve the problem.

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Speaker 1: And that's where it comes down to having just nine

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Speaker 1: thousand people in the sector, just ten percent of what

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Speaker 1: police have, for instance, and one percent of what's in

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Speaker 1: the health force.

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Speaker 2: That's right. We need all of them watching as well,

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Speaker 2: recognizing where there are red flag so we know that

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Speaker 2: relationship breakdowns a really key time when women are at

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Speaker 2: very high risk. When women leave violence situations, that's when

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Speaker 2: they are at extreme risk of violence and homicide. Sometimes

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Speaker 2: those men will go and talk to their gps about

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Speaker 2: feeling depressed because their relationships are breaking down. We need

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Speaker 2: their gps asking them questions and thinking about, ah, maybe

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Speaker 2: I better check in whether there are risk factors in

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Speaker 2: terms of violence here? Do I know if there are guns?

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Speaker 2: We need everybody asking those questions and thinking about it

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Speaker 2: and responding in a way that is helpful.

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Speaker 1: Well, what do you think the GP's reaction should be

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Speaker 1: then if he finds out there is a situation here,

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Speaker 1: is it something that he should pass on or she

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Speaker 1: should us onto police.

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Speaker 2: I think they've got an opportunity in the relationship they

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Speaker 2: have with their patient to ask them questions and to

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Speaker 2: offer them service responses. I think I wouldn't. I don't

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Speaker 2: think that mandating doctors to share in f I think

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Speaker 2: that relationship is critically important and that patients will tell

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Speaker 2: their doctors things. What we need is the doctors to

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Speaker 2: be educated to be asking the right questions and then

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Speaker 2: offering what responses are to that that will be helpful.

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Speaker 1: I think what you say is actually critically important. But

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Speaker 1: given where GPS are stretched to the limit, as you'd

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Speaker 1: be aware at the moment in terms of resources and

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Speaker 1: clinics been overfall and a waiting list that is ours

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Speaker 1: late from the moment they open the doors, that's a

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Speaker 1: big owners to put on GPS in the current situation.

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Speaker 1: Isn't it.

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Speaker 2: It is, and we need to think about how we

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Speaker 2: change the system to support them in doing that, and

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Speaker 2: there are very good people in the health sector who

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Speaker 2: are thinking that. Through my view is that wherever there

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Speaker 2: is a system that needs to be changed, you go

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Speaker 2: looking for the people within those systems who are the

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Speaker 2: experts who are already trying to do that. So there

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Speaker 2: are people in the health sector who are experts in

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Speaker 2: domestic family and sexual violence who are trying to make

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Speaker 2: the changes that are necessary to support GPS and other

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Speaker 2: health practitioners.

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Speaker 1: Mikaela great chat this morning. Thank you for your time.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Matthew MICHAELA.

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Speaker 1: Cronin who is the Commissioner for Family, Domestic Family and

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Speaker 1: Sexual Violence