Calls Grow For Australia To Introduce A National Domestic Violence Register

Impact for Women is calling for Australia to introduce a national domestic violence register.

The volunteer-run charity wants more visibility around people's pasts so that Australia can reduce the number of deaths as a result of domestic violence.

They believe having a database of people who have been convicted of DV around the country would greatly help this cause.

Impact for Women founder and president Kathy Kaplan OAM said they can already borrow from another very well-known criminal register.

"We suggest using a Sex Offenders Register model for domestic and family violence perpetrators," Ms Kaplan said.

"If you are convicted of a sex offence, you don't get a choice whether you are on the register; it is automatic once you are convicted.

"[Our proposed register] would capture people who have been convicted of a DFV offence and usually on multiple occasions."

Victoria's sex offender registry is good in the sense that it holds information on anyone who has been convicted, cautioned or released from prison for registrable sex offences in the state.

However, it's limited in scope because only police officers can access it.

People worried about who is in their community aren't able to log in and see whether a sex offender is one of their neighbours. Police do have discretion to alert people, however that's a case by case basis.

Impact for Women noted New South Wales has introduced a Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, however, that is also limited in its effectiveness.

The onus is on a person to make an application to the authorities to see if their partner has a violent past. Police would then need to dig into their data and produce a report.

While that is helpful in some scenarios, Impact for Women wants the register to already have all the information freely accessible.

It's hoped a DV version of Victoria's sex offender registry would alert police to when a perpetrator moves close to their precinct.

The past offender could be assigned a police case manager and given mandatory requirements, however that might be stepping into the legal territory dictated by the courts.

Impact for Women's Keeley Goldrick said: "No one seems to have a problem with the Sex Offenders Register, so this is a duplication and extension of that legislation.

"We see this as an urgent action as women's lives are at risk. A woman and her children's right to protection prefaces a serial domestic violence offender's right to privacy."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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