Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak also on this very serious and important issue of domestic and family violence in Australia, and on the interim report tabled today by the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee.

Before I proceed any further, I would like to echo the sentiments made earlier by my colleague Kate Lundy about our Australian of the Year, Ms Rosie Batty. We all need to recognise her bravery in championing the issues around this national atrocity. I also want to thank Senator Larissa Waters for giving her good overview of all the recommendations in the report. I think she articulated very well the importance of reinstating the funding to those essential services that can combat this and make Australia a better place for women and children.

As Senator Waters mentioned earlier, I would like to draw everyone's attention to one of the recommendations, which relates directly to my electorate in the Northern Territory:

The committee recommends a review of policies and services dedicated to the treatment of alcohol and other drug abuse in the Northern Territory and their impact on domestic violence, including urgent consideration to reinstate the Banned Drinkers Register.

I am very pleased that the committee makes this recommendation, because it is a win for all Territorians. And this issue has finally got the attention of the federal parliament.

I am sincerely grateful that the committee came to Darwin last week at my invitation and heard evidence from a range of frontline service providers, including the Northern Territory police, medical services, women's shelters, legal services—Indigenous and non-Indigenous—and Aboriginal Peak Organisations NT, all of whom are dealing with the daily horror of domestic and family violence against women and children in the Northern Territory.

There was one issue that all witnesses were unanimous about, and that was that the banned drinkers register was an extremely effective tool in reducing alcohol related violence against women. Make no mistake, alcohol misuse is an enormous factor in family violence in the Northern Territory.

In August 2012 the incoming Northern Territory government scrapped the banned drinkers register. It was one of its first acts as a new government, and it was totally irresponsible. The banned drinkers register—or BDR, as it is also known—is an electronic identification system at the point of sale which prevents anyone with a court order banning them from purchasing alcohol from doing so, including those with a history of domestic violence.

The BDR was rolled out across the Northern Territory from 1 July 2011, and in the first quarter alcohol-related assaults dropped by five per cent, Territory-wide. At the end of the third quarter, in March 2012, a staggering 2,369 people were placed on the banned drinkers register. Around 25,000 people were on the banned drinker register when it was scrapped. Domestic violence perpetrators were again free to buy as much alcohol as they liked. As predicted by police, lawyers and doctors, domestic violence rates soared through the roof.

The Northern Territory's current minister for women, Ms Bess Price, told the inquiry—and I thank Ms Price for attending the inquiry—that:

The statistics regarding the incidence of violence are breathtaking ... for the 12-month period ending November 2014, there were 7,076 assault offences in the Northern Territory, of which 4,262, or 60 per cent, were recorded as being associated with domestic violence.

Since August 2012, when the Country Liberal Party took government, domestic violence related assaults have increased by 7.4 per cent territory-wide and are up 14.1 per cent in remote areas, 39.5 per cent in Darwin and 21.4 per cent in Palmerston.

In 2011, the former territory Labor government introduced the enough is enough alcohol reforms. Crime statistics recorded prior to this initiative found 60 per cent of all assaults and 67 per cent of domestic violence related assaults were all alcohol related. A study undertaken by the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies, Harms from and costs of alcohol consumption in the Northern Territory, estimated alcohol-related crime and illness costs the Northern Territory community is $642 million per year or $4,197 per adult, compared to $943 nationally, with this including the cost of police, ambulance and hospital resources. Labor's enough is enough alcohol reforms committed $67 million over five years, including $34 million for more treatment options.

One of the most alarming facts about these horrendous statistics is that so much of it is preventable. We have heard that from previous speakers. It is preventable because so much of it is caused by alcohol abuse. The Northern Territory government must take responsibility, because this has happened under their watch. Previously, an assistant police commissioner noted that the banned drinkers register was the most powerful tool to deal with antisocial behaviour and violence in the community in a public place. I need to make mention of an incredible Aboriginal women in the Northern Territory, who is very well-respected in her work for 13 years at the Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women's Shelter, Ms Bennett. She told us that there were very noticeable improvements when the BDR was in place and she pleaded for it to be reinstated.

If the Northern Territory government is serious about tackling alcohol-related harm, then it must reinstate the banned drinkers register. It must listen to people who deal with this day in and day out, who deal with the atrocities of domestic and family violence in the Northern Territory. They must take note of all of these recommendations. The banned drinkers registry is a tool that has been set up and it has been proven to work. It can actually assist with reducing the statistics of violence against women and children in the Northern Territory. Territorians need an urgent response to this challenge, so let's stop the rivers of grog. Let's stop the violence. It can be prevented. Let's do it. The evidence is clear. Let's take action now. I thank the Senate for the opportunity to participate in the hearings. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.