Principles of reform

3.8 The Australian Government has identified a clear goal ‘to reduce all violence in our communities’, recognising that ‘whatever the form violence takes, it has serious and often devastating consequences for victims, their extended families and the community’.^[5] A specific concern—and the immediate trigger—for the work of the National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, was that violence against women ‘comes at an enormous economic cost’.^[6]The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women forms part of the Government response, in turn including the referral of the current Inquiry to the Commissions.

3.9 The objective of this Inquiry reflects the Government’s objective—through recommendations for reform of legal frameworks—to improve safety for women and children in the context of family violence. In this context, the idea of ‘frameworks’ extends beyond law in the form of legislative instruments and includes education, information sharing and other matters. The overall touchstone throughout the chapters and recommendations, however, is one of improving safety.

3.10 The recommendations in this Report are underpinned by four specific principles or policy aims that relevant legal frameworks in this Inquiry should express: seamlessness, accessibility, fairness and effectiveness, as summarised below.

(1) Seamlessness—to ensure that the legal framework is as seamless as possible from the point of view of those who engage with it.

(2) Accessibility—to facilitate access to legal and other responses to family violence.

(3) Fairness—to ensure that legal responses to family violence are fair and just, holding those who use family violence accountable for their actions and providing protection to victims.

(4) Effectiveness—to facilitate effective interventions and support in circumstances of family violence.

Seamlessness

3.11 The idea of ‘seamlessness’ is expressed in a number of ways in various reviews and discussions about responding to family violence. Time for Action identified, as one key ‘outcome’ area, that ‘systems work together effectively’,^[7] which combines ‘seamlessness’ as an interaction of systems as well as ‘effectiveness’.

3.12 At times, ‘seamlessness’ is expressed as an aspiration of having one court deal with the wide range of matters that can arise in relation to a family, where women and children are affected by family violence and child abuse. The approach to the idea expressed as ‘one court’ is considered further below in the framework for reform.

3.13 At other times the idea of seamlessness may be seen, for example, in terms of:

• recommendations for consistency of definitions;^[8]

• recommendations for greater sharing of information and facilitation of pathways between the various services, agencies and courts that are involved in family violence matters;^[9]

• training programs, knowledge bases and professional development for all those in the various systems that deal with issues of family violence and child abuse;^[10]

• coordination or integration of responses to family violence matters.^[11]

3.14 From the point of view of those engaging with the legal frameworks in which issues of family violence and child abuse arise, the Commissions consider that the key focus for this Inquiry must be upon the experience of those participants—to see the system through their eyes. ‘Seamlessness’ in practice may involve a combination of each and every one of the elements identified so far, and to be considered throughout this Inquiry. It is a foundational policy principle driving the recommendations for reform contained in this Report.

Accessibility

3.15 In the report, A Strategic Framework for Access to Justice in the Federal Civil Justice System (the Access to Justice Framework), the Access to Justice Taskforce of the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department identifies ‘accessibility’ as a key principle: ‘Justice initiatives should reduce the net complexity of the justice system’.^[12] It also includes the principle of ‘efficiency’, that ‘the justice system should deliver outcomes in the most efficient way possible, noting that the greatest efficiency can often be achieved without resorting to a formal dispute resolution process, including through preventing disputes’.^[13]

Fairness

3.16 Time for Action identified as one key ‘outcome’ area, that ‘responses are just’.^[14] The Access to Justice Framework identifies two ‘access to justice principles’: ‘appropriateness’ and ‘equity’.^[15] These are similar to the idea of ‘fairness’ and ‘accessibility’. The ideas of being ‘fair and just’ and ‘providing protection’ should also include the idea of ‘respect’, which is also a key outcome in Time for Action.^[16]

3.17 Fairness also reflects human rights principles—in particular, Australia’s obligations under international conventions, considered in Chapter 2. A key obligation concerns the right to minimum procedural guarantees in the case of criminal charges, especially relevant in the context of Part G of this Report, concerning sexual assault.

Effectiveness

3.18 The Access to Justice Framework includes ‘effectiveness’ as one of its key principles:

The interaction of the various elements of the justice system should be designed to deliver the best outcomes for users. Justice initiatives should be considered from a system-wide perspective rather than on an institutional basis. All elements of the justice system should be directed towards the prevention and resolution of disputes, delivering fair and appropriate outcomes, and maintaining and supporting the rule of law.^[17]

3.19 Time for Action included as a specific outcome that ‘systems work together effectively’.^[18]