A former senator who wrote the book on domestic and family violence will lead a royal commission seeking to end the scourge.
Natasha Stott Despoja AO, a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, was unveiled as royal commissioner of the landmark South Australian inquiry on Monday.
A longtime women’s safety advocate, Ms Stott Despoja was the founding chair of Our Watch and in 2019 authored the book On Violence, calling for an end to family violence.
The commission, which has been allocated $3 million and given a year to report back from its July 1 start date, was announced by the SA government in December after a spate of highly-publicised domestic violence murders rocked the state.
Standing alongside Ms Stott Despoja and Minister for Women Katrine Hildyard on Monday, Premier Peter Malinauskas announced the inquiry’s terms of reference.
The former Australian Democrats senator has been tasked with investigating prevention, early intervention, responses to and recovery and healing from domestic and family violence, as well as co-ordination of government, NGOs and community services.
Despite the broad mandate and complexity of the issue, Ms Stott Despoja was bullish about her prospects of delivering meaningful, practical recommendations within the short time frame.
“The good thing about working in this space is that violence against women and children is preventable,” she told reporters.
“Can it be done overnight? No. Will it take time? Yes, especially when you’re changing attitudes and behaviors. Sometimes it takes generations.
“So, yeah, I’m optimistic. Eradication – that’s my aim.”
Ms Stott Despoja will lean heavily on the work of the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence, which was established in 2015 and resulted in the Andrews government implementing all 227 recommendations.
That inquiry cost $40 million to conduct and has been called the largest family violence reform process in Australia’s history by researchers and advocates.
Ms Stott Despoja said the terms of the South Australian commission are broader, in particular in relation to sexual assault and sexual violence, but it will be more focused on outcomes and less on retrospectivity or legal and judicial matters, meaning it need not cost as much.
The inquiry will also examine why women and children with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, disabilities, or other intersectional factors, are at greater risk of domestic violence and what can be done to change that.
“It is our nation’s shame that (Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander women) are three times more likely to experience this violence than non-Indigenous women,” Ms Stott Despoja said.
“But as Rosie Batty reminds us, the single biggest risk factor for being a victim of this violence in society today is being female.
“I look forward to meeting with stakeholders over the next few months, meeting with ministers, meeting with the police and all of those in our society who have a place to contribute to the elimination of this scourge.”
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