State and territory attorneys-general are to meet with federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on Friday to debate whether to criminalize coercive control across the nation.
Key points:
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says a national approach could mean more states criminalize coercive control
The father of murdered mother Hannah Clarke was “ecstatic” to hear about Friday’s meeting of attorneys-general
Coercive control is often hard for abuse victims to provide to authorities
Coercive control — a form of domestic and family violence — refers to patterns of abusive behaviors used by one person to dominate and control another in a relationship, which can leave victims feeling powerless, isolated and a hostage in their own home.
Families of those victims and case workers have welcomed the federal government’s push for a national understanding of the term.
States and territories are at different stages of considering whether to criminalize coercive control in their own jurisdictions.
Mr Dreyfus said Friday’s meeting of the nation’s first law officers in Melbourne would see the first steps towards a nationally consistent approach.
“We know from early research that coercive control is an extremely common feature of abusive relationships, but it is not always well understood across the community,” Mr Dreyfus told the ABC.
“There are some differences [between jurisdictions]which is why reaching agreement — at least at a draft level — on what are national principles to address coercive control, is a really good step forward.”
Queensland and New South Wales have already moved to criminalize coercive control, while Victoria and Tasmania say existing laws cover the offences.
Other states have expressed in-principle support for new laws or a nationally consistent approach.
Mr Dreyfus said having a national consensus would lead to a higher level of understanding and the possibility of remaining jurisdictions criminalizing the behaviours.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus wants a national consistency approach. (AAP: Lukas Coch/File)
“We are hoping that, at [Friday’s] meeting, we are going to be able to approve for release national principles to address coercive control and we think that will help get to a coordinated national approach,” he said.
“It won’t necessarily be that every state will get to criminalizing this behaviour, but if we can get to a much wider understanding in the community of what this is, that will help our ultimate aim of keeping women and children safe.”
National push welcomed by father of domestic violence victim
The move towards a national framework has been welcomed by the father of Hannah Clarke, who was murdered, along with her three children, by her estranged husband.
Lloyd Clarke said he always knew something was wrong, but wasn’t familiar with the term coercive control at the time.
“There were no physical marks but we knew there were mental marks,” Mr Clarke said.
Hannah Clarke and her children were murdered by her estranged husband in 2020. (Supplied: Lloyd Clarke)
“He was trying to control her mentally. Wanting to know where she was, even asking the children.”
When he was subsequently told this amounted to coercive control, Mr Clarke and his wife, Sue, launched a campaign for Queensland to criminalize the behaviour.
“We thought, ‘Well, we didn’t know about it so there must be a lot of people out there who don’t know about coercive control and we need to educate people on that’,” Mr Clarke told the ABC.
After the Clarke family’s campaign, Queensland committed to criminalizing coercive behavior with a pledge to have laws in place by 2023.
Mr Clarke said he was “ecstatic” to hear that state and territory attorneys-general were willing to work together on the issue.
“It’s another step ahead of our [state-based] campaign and that’s great,” Mr Clarke said.
Coercive control often hard to provide to authorities, counselor says
Kirrilly Salvestro — a domestic violence counselor working in western New South Wales — said a national approach would improve clarity between states.
However, she said, providing evidence of coercive behavior was notoriously difficult, particularly in states that are looking to criminalize and punish the behaviour.
“For example, isolation from friends and family: How do you prove that to authorities?” Ms Salvestro said.
“How do you prove that your partner may have been monitoring your activity unless you have a way to prove that they have been bugging your phone or putting trackers on your vehicles?”
Ms Salvestro — who is deputy chief executive officer of the Linking Communities Network — said it was important for any national definition to reflect the scale of the damage caused.
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“In any discussion, we need to make sure that we get it right the first time,” Ms Salvestro said.
“[We need] to include everything that needs to be encompassed and the recognition that children are involved in coercive control as well, all that needs to be included.”
Betty Taylor has been fighting the scourge of domestic violence in Queensland for more than three decades and even she was shocked by the explosive testimonies she heard at an inquiry into police culture.
Key points:
Leading advocate Betty Taylor is calling for a domestic violence and sexual assault commissioner
Current officers told the inquiry unconscious bias was a major issue and misogyny “ran wild” in the force
Tuesday marks the final day of public hearings, with a report to be handed down in October
WARNING: This story contains strong language that some readers may find offensive.
The chief executive of the Red Rose Foundation has been closely following the inquiry into the Queensland Police Service’s (QPS) response to domestic and family violence, which has spanned five weeks and heard from dozens of witnesses, including current and retired police officers.
With Tuesday marking its final day of public hearings, the inquiry has painted a damning picture of police culture and problematic attitudes in the ranks towards domestic violence survivors.
Misogynistic attitudes towards women, policy and procedural failures as well as serious allegations of police inaction to protect domestic violence survivors have all been laid bare.
Ms Taylor said officers’ response to domestic and family violence in Queensland was the worst she’s ever witnessed in her 34 years of advocacy.
“This inquiry is incredibly important. I’ve worked across the domestic violence field for 34 years and … the response by police is the worst it’s ever been,” Ms Taylor said.
“Not even just by police — I think women are getting a rough deal in the community and through the courts.
“Victims have to have confidence in the police. They’ve got to know they can call and… be taken seriously.”
‘Time for really significant reforms’
Ms Taylor said she hoped the inquiry would provide momentum for meaningful change and reform.
“We’ve got women potentially being murdered and police aren’t taking the time to do thorough investigations. It really concerns me,” she said.
“My hope is [that] we really step up and look at what domestic violence really is: one of the worst crimes in our community.
“It’s time to step back and reflect and put in place some really significant reforms.”
There are calls for ongoing face-to-face domestic violence training for police.(ABC News: Patrick Williams)
Headed by Judge Deborah Richards, the landmark inquiry’s goal is to determine whether cultural issues are negatively impacting how police handle domestic violence cases, as well as the experience of Indigenous domestic violence victims and the way corrupt conduct and complaints against police are dealt with.
A key recommendation of the Women’s Safety and Justice taskforce, the inquiry follows urgent calls for action after several high-profile domestic violence murders, including the deaths of Doreen Langham, Hannah Clarke and her three children.
Among the explosive evidence, one service officer — who cannot be identified for legal reasons — told the inquiry that misogyny “ran wild” within the force as he detailed hearing male colleagues frequently making derogatory remarks about female survivors and avoiding domestic violence incidents altogether.
“Domestic violence is just foreplay”, “she’s too ugly to be raped”, “rape is just surprise sex” and “I can see why he does it to her — if I was in his position, I’d do that,” the officer told the inquiry, recounting comments he had heard made by seasoned male officers.
The officer became emotional as he told the inquiry “the core business in his station was misogyny, dehumanization and negligence.”
‘She’s just blowing hot air’
Retired officer Audra Pollard — who was a coordinator officer in police call centers — told the inquiry she witnessed police deliberately driving away from a suburb to avoid responding to a domestic violence incident.
Ms Pollard said her colleagues would often make derogatory comments about “repeat” domestic violence complainants, saying things like: “Oh — that f**kwit has called again” “That spoon is on the line again”, “Don’t bother sending a crew to that job, she’s just blowing hot air, that sort of thing.”
Officers told the inquiry that misogyny and unconscious bias are major issues throughout the force.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
The inquiry also heard from Sergeant Paul Trinder, a shift supervisor, who recalled a time where two officers, including a senior constable, downplayed a serious domestic violence incident, despite “clear photographic evidence” of assault and threats made against the victim.
“There was a statement from the aggrieved person that the respondent had threatened to decapitate the family dog in front of her and her children,” Sergeant Trinder told the inquiry.
“That victim had been failed by that officer. There was clear photographic evidence that she had been assaulted, like a punch-sized bruise around her rib cage and so on.
“That information was not provided to me at the time.”
The inquiry was told of another instance where a police officer did not investigate the suspicious death of a domestic violence victim because she and her husband were a “pair of scumbags who lived in a sh*t area in a sh*t house”.
Sergeant Trinder said “unconscious bias” was a major problem.
The inquiry was also told Indigenous domestic violence victims were turned away from police stations or misidentified as perpetrators.
‘DV fatigue’ blamed for police inaction
Several witnesses told the inquiry that officers were “DV fatigued” and fearful of scrutiny over their response to a large volume of cases, with police spending more than 40 per cent of their time responding to domestic violence matters.
As part of the inquiry, consultant and former detective Mark Ainsworth interviewed more than 50 police officers and found there was a culture of “taking shortcuts” to avoid doing DV orders because of their “convoluted nature”.
The inquiry heard there was a culture of doing the “bare minimum” when investigating DV complaints as a way of coping with burnout.(AAP: Dan Peled)
Mr Ainsworth was told the “culture of doing the bare minimum might be a coping mechanism to deal with being overworked and DV-fatigued”.
The inquiry also heard from the state’s most senior officer in charge of DV investigations, Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd, who said officers were overwhelmed, fatigued and reporting high levels of burnout and psychological distress.
He did concede that there were “significant issues of police culture at play.”
“We may have some members, albeit I hope very few, who do have some deeply misogynistic attitudes,” Assistant Commissioner Codd told the inquiry, although he did not say the issue was systemic.
Police unsurprised by officers perpetrating domestic violence
The inquiry also revealed 38 Queensland police officers were currently subject to domestic and family violence orders as of June 30.
Queensland Assistant Police Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon says police perpetrating domestic violence is concerning but expected given the size of the force.(Supplied: Queensland Police Service)
One officer, the inquiry was told, who was served wiith a Police Protection Notice (PPN), allegedly breached it just 33 minutes after being served a copy of it, while another allegedly used the QPS database to try to locate the crisis shelter of his ex-wife, who had lodged a DV complaint against him.
Assistant Police Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon — who heads the internal affairs division within the ethical standards command — said police-perpetrated DV was not surprising, given the size of the force.
“We’re a large organization of 17,000 people … it is not something that you can expect we won’t see in our organization given the size of it,” Assistant Commissioner Scanlon told the inquiry.
“There will be officers who will find themselves in a relationship that breaks down or where there are allegations of domestic violence unfortunately.
“Could we pick up some of these things earlier? I dare say we should have and could have.”
Will the inquiry lead to meaningful change?
There have been some notable absences from the public hearings, including QPS Commissioner Katarina Carroll, Queensland Police Union chief executive Ian Leavers and Police Minister Mark Ryan, yet none was asked by the inquiry to give evidence in person.
A common theme throughout the public hearings was the need for thorough and ongoing face-to-face DV training for police.
Almost 100 per cent of interviewees told Mr Ainsworth the “whole system” needs to be reviewed and streamlined to address cultural issues across the force.
Ms Taylor said her organization was calling for a domestic violence and sexual assault commissioner to ensure survivors were protected.
“I really would like to see a domestic violence and sexual assault commissioner that has an external role in not just overseeing complaints, but [also] policy advice to government, overseeing … how support is given to victims by both police and external agencies,” she said.
“The recommendations [to be handed down at the end of the inquiry] need to reflect the seriousness of what’s been heard.”
The inquiry will hand its final report to the state government in October.
In a statement, the QPS said it was committed to working with the inquiry to ensure “organizational values, standards of practice and responsibilities are being maintained and, where the opportunity arises, enhanced”.
“We are committed to strengthening and improving our response to DFV matters to ensure the service is supporting all victims and holding perpetrators to account,” a spokesperson said.
There are “significant” cultural issues within the Queensland Police Service (QPS) affecting how officers respond to domestic violence, the state’s most senior officer in charge of domestic violence investigations has told an inquiry.
Key points:
Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd says the majority of criticism of police cultural issues is “unchallenged”
He told the inquiry inexperience, lack of training and officer burnout were contributing to poor culture
Police data shows a major jump in strangulation cases and DVO breaches in the past five years
The commission of inquiry, which began on May 30, is examining the police response to domestic and family violence cases.
Headed by Judge Deborah Richards, it is also probing the over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system and the way corrupt conduct and complaints against police are handled.
The inquiry heard today from Assistant Police Commissioner Brian Codd, the head of the state’s domestic violence and vulnerable persons command, who gave his take on the evidence heard in the public hearings so far.
Counsel assisting the commission Ruth O’Gorman said the issues raised included officers avoiding DV call-outs, showing “disinterest” when attending call-outs, conducting “insufficient investigations” and misidentification of the victims and perpetrators.
“There are significant issues of police culture at play here that need to be addressed,” Assistant Commissioner Codd told the inquiry.
“We may have some members, albeit I hope very few, who do have some deeply misogynistic attitudes”
“I do accept that there are significant areas of concern that have been raised… that certainly will require us to look… beyond just isolated incidents.”
‘Pockets of issues’ around police culture
Assistant Commissioner Codd said he accepted “the majority” of evidence given relating to police culture was “unchallenged”.
“There’s very clearly in my view … pockets of issues of poor performance … behaviors and attitudes across our organization — aspects of culture that are impacting on our performance of our duty in DV,” Assistant Commissioner Codd told the inquiry.
“I certainly accept that the evidence provided has highlighted a range of concerning aspects of culture.
“It’s far from, in my humble opinion, the majority.
“But that doesn’t matter to a point, because whilst there’s still victims and people who need our help … [there’s a need for] focus and improvement.
“I do accept that there are significant areas of concern … that certainly will require us to look beyond just isolated incidents. There’s been too many consistencies in too many places.”
The inquiry heard inexperience, lack of training and officer burnout were contributing to poor police culture.(AAP: Dan Peled)
However, Assistant Commissioner Codd told the inquiry he did not believe cultural issues were “widespread” or “systemic” within the Queensland Police Service (QPS).
“I’d avoid the term ‘systemic’ because that suggests it’s absolutely through every part of our organization,” he said.
“I guess the observation I’d like to make though is the term about ‘widespread’ or ‘endemic’ that’s tied to it.
“I’m wary that almost every one of the witnesses, or certainly a number [of them,] …also made the point that it wasn’t their experience with every officer.”
He told the inquiry “a range of complex factors” were contributing to issues with police culture, including inexperience, lack of training and officer burnout.
Strangulation cases more than double in five years
Assistant Commissioner Codd also told the inquiry domestic violence strangulation had “progressively increased” from 1,060 reported occurrences in the 2016/2017 financial year to 2,145 in 2022/2023, according to QPS data.
He said domestic violence reports had also climbed from 89,458 in the 2016/2017 financial year to 138,551 in 2022/2023.
The inquiry heard breaches of domestic violence orders (DVOs) were another area of concern, increasing from 25,771 in the 2016/2017 financial year to 46,601 in 2022/2023.
“There’s been a significant increase there but, by the same token, it is perhaps a measure of us being better at identifying them,” he told the inquiry.
Assistant Commissioner Codd had previously told the inquiry in the first week of public hearings that the police service was struggling to keep up with demand, with officers spending more than 40 per cent of their time responding to domestic violence matters.
He said officers were overwhelmed and fatigued and were reporting high levels of burnout and psychological distress.
The QPS will not comment on specific issues raised during the hearings but has committed to work with the inquiry to “ensure that organizational values, standards of practice and responsibilities are being maintained and, where the opportunity arises, enhanced”.
Public hearings will continue in Brisbane tomorrow, before moving to Mount Isa for the inquiry’s final two days next week.
The inquiry will hand down its final report in October.
