Please, ministers, spare us your pathetic platitudes on the domestic violence crisis
-
Published April 29, 2024
Sydney Morning Herald, 28 April 2024
The platitudes offered by federal ministers over the weekend in response to growing demands for more action on the domestic violence crisis gripping our nation were as predictable as they were pathetic.
At a time when the public is begging for action on the appalling rate of women being murdered or beaten to a pulp each week, two Albanese government ministers rejected out of hand the idea of a national royal commission into the underlying causes of the violence.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who recently had to apologise to a female journalist for the way he spoke to her at a press conference, on Saturday reeled off a series of measures already under way to address the national crisis.
“I think we’ve actually identified a whole range of actions already that need to be taken,” he told reporters. “And I think what we probably can say is that we need to be working harder on the kinds of actions that have already been identified.”
This is an extraordinary admission. The attorney-general effectively said governments know what needs to be fixed but haven’t done enough to make it happen. If that’s the case, why should we now trust governments to carry on with the status quo approach?
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth sang from a similar song sheet on Sunday, droning on and on in an interview with Sky News about federal plans and strategies to deal with domestic and family violence.
“Well look, we have a national plan in place,” she argued. “We have action plans agreed to with states and territories. We believe we need to get on with the job.”
Earth to the minister: the existing approach is clearly not working. The rate of women being murdered by men known to them this year is accelerating, not decreasing.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a rally in Canberra on Sunday that the national cabinet would meet on Wednesday, with “one issue on the agenda: immediate, meaningful and practical action to address family violence”. We’ve all heard that before.
In Australian politics, royal commissions are often preceded by a period of reluctance by governments to hold them. On certain occasions, a hesitation to hold a royal commission is fair enough. Some demands for inquiries are made for political purposes rather than a genuine desire to get to the bottom of a major problem. Royal commissions also take a lot of time and money.
But Australia is in the middle of an escalating national emergency. Governments are not doing enough, and we need new ideas. A federal royal commission examining the broader societal issues fuelling male attitudes towards women is a no-brainer, as is a NSW-based inquiry examining all aspects of laws, policies and emergency services resourcing.
Royal commissions will allow us to come to grips with the incredibly complex factors involved in this national crisis. They will not, as some dubiously claim, prevent us from taking urgent action on obvious areas of reform, such as bail laws, right now.
The Herald congratulates Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey, Public Service Association general secretary Stewart Little, Health Services Union secretary Gerard Hayes and Labor MPs Trish Doyle and Anna Watson for having the guts to endorse a state royal commission into domestic and family violence over recent days.
To his credit, Premier Chris Minns remains open to the push. Minns on Friday said the calls for a royal commission in NSW were “completely understandable and really reasonable in the circumstances” and the government was “considering those calls from prominent leaders” such as Rosie Batty, who have led the charge to end violence against women.
Minns will hold a special cabinet meeting this week to determine the government’s next steps. We urge him and his ministers to be bold and not default to the usual platitudes so many others have offered for far too long.