SA royal commission findings into domestic, family and sexual violence released

Following the opening remarks by the commissioner, the premier and the minister, they are now answering questions about the report.

The first question for the premier was about how much the government will invest to secure reform: “What does a ‘significant amount of money’ mean?”

Mr Malinauskas responded by saying there was already a provision within the budget, and that “we anticipated there would be costs”.

But he won’t say how much money has been allocated because that number “won’t dictate the policy response”.

He says some changes won’t be expensive to implement but others – for example, accommodation reform – will need funding.

Asked about the billions devoted by Victoria to implementing the recommendations of its own royal commission, Mr Malinauskas rejected strict comparisons, saying Victoria was a much bigger state and not an “apples for apples comparison”.

But he says he’s confident SA will devote sufficient funding.

“We’re prepared to spend what is required to make a difference.”

Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Katrine Hildyard spoke of the courage of survivors, and spoke of the four women who died in the space of a week in November 2023.

She says it was a heartbreaking week that demanded action.

“We embrace this generational opportunity for change,” she said.

She says the government will now consider the unadopted 129 recommendations with safety and recovery in mind, and while listening to survivors.

“We have listened and we will now act,” she said.

The full royal commission report is called “With courage: South Australia’s vision beyond violence”, and Ms Stott Despoja explained the reason:

“It’s time now for our state to act with courage and lead with courage,” she said.

“And I have every confidence that we will.”

In her foreword to the report, she made the following observations about the need for lasting change:

“We remain the only state without a dedicated, whole-of-government strategy to prevent and respond to domestic, family and sexual violence. That must change. South Australia needs a statewide strategy with prevention at its core.

“We recognise that some communities are severely underserved. There is a glaring lack of culturally safe and Aboriginal-led services. Services for LGBTQIA+ people, people with disability, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, men who are victim-survivors and men who use violence are chronically underdeveloped or missing entirely. Services for children who have experienced domestic, family and sexual violence are almost non-existent.”

Natasha Stott Despoja says the prevalence of domestic, family and sexual violence among young Aboriginal people is “a statewide shame”.

One in every seven has experienced such violence, she says.

Aboriginal people are one of the groups she says who are severely underserviced in terms of the support available. Services are chronically underfunded, she says.

Ms Stott Despoja says she understands some recommendations will take time to implement, but says the commission will be monitoring progress.

“This is not a tick-and-flick exercise … it’s about getting it right,” the commissioner said.

The premier has urged the community as a whole to “lift our eyes a little bit”.

“Domestic violence often happens behind closed doors … but that doesn’t change the fact that it could be a family member who’s a victim, a neighbour who’s a perpetrator,” he said.

“We should be alive to that.”

He says, if the state wants to stop domestic violence from being as prevalent as it is, the responsibility is with each and every person – particularly men – to ensure progress.

Natasha Stott Despoja says the commission has grounded its work in the voices of South Australians.

More than 5,000 members of the SA community shared their experiences, and the commission received more than 380 submissions.

“My greatest thanks to those South Australians,” she said.

While the government is yet to formally accept any other of the 129 recommendations, the premier says there are others that “warrant pretty quick work”.

Mr Malinauskas says women are often dealing with fragmented and underfunded service delivery, meaning they often have to repeat their story over and over again.

To address this, the government will focus on establishment of a 24/7 “central point of engagement around service delivery”.

Another issue that needs work, Mr Malinauskas says, is accommodation.

The premier says caravan parks are not the most appropriate place for women – often with children – experiencing domestic violence.

Mr Malinauskas declared the moment of the release of the findings as an “important day for our state”.

“It’s important to remember how we got here,” he added.

“Tragically, a little over 12 months ago four women died in the space of just over a week.

“It was a really harsh wake-up call that reminded us all that domestic violence is having an extraordinarily detrimental impact in our community.”

The government says it will “dutifully consider and examine” all recommendations before it can respond to them.

Today, the SA Premier formally adopted seven of the recommendations – the rest will be responded to by the end of the year.

The seven adopted include developing a “5-year statewide domestic, family and sexual violence strategy that includes the 4 pillars of prevention, early intervention, response, and recovery and healing”.