WA government must ensure adequate funding improvements in domestic violence response

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a day ago

Lynn Cannon's murder at the hands of her estranged husband was among the most shocking instances of domestic violence in WA in recent years.
The 51-year-old was stabbed to death nearly three years ago, after her former husband learned she had a new partner and "reacted aggressively".
Acting State Coroner Sarah Linton yesterday found police had been too slow to act on information provided by Lynn's family, but acknowledged a range of systemic pressures working against them.
Because, for all the ways Lynn was failed, Ms Linton made clear this was about more than one woman.
The family and domestic violence (FDV) system in WA had let Lynn down in ways that could result in the deaths of more women, if changes were not made, she concluded.
At the heart of it, she said, was how Western Australia, as a state, and each Western Australian, responds to domestic violence.
"Every person in the community has a role to play in putting an end to family and domestic violence," she wrote.
Ms Linton quoted three sentiments every citizen must "be able to say with confidence" to ensure they are playing their part:
Those ideas came straight from the state's System Reform Plan — a map for how domestic violence experts and the government would like to see the sector change over the next four years.
It is a bold plan that has been welcomed by those leading the sector.
But Ms Linton has reminded the government that it is not only the community that needs to change in line with that plan — it is also those holding the state's purse strings.
"I wish to add my support to the need for the implementation of the reform plan to be fully funded," she wrote.
"And it must include ensuring that there is ongoing sustainable funding for the government and non-government specialist support services that not only provide crisis support to victim-survivors, but also ongoing support and advocacy.
"They are often left at the end of the line when funding is allocated, as they do not have the same presence as the larger government agencies.
"But their work on the ground, providing immediate assistance and an ongoing support network to victim-survivors, is vital."
The coroner specifically threw her weight behind the calls of Alison Evans, the head of peak body Centre for Women's Safety and Wellbeing, for an "immediate significant funding uplift in frontline areas".
"Along with analysis to determine the unmet demand in family and domestic violence crisis response, recovery, and healing with a view to developing a pathway to fund ongoing demand on a sustainable basis," she concluded.
That focus on funding is important for a number of reasons.
The first is that services are already struggling to cope with demand, at a time when we know domestic violence is severely under-reported.
In a statement, Minister for the Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Jessica Stojkovski said the Labor government had invested more than $500 million in support and prevention efforts since 2017.
She said the government had increased refuge capacity by 41 per cent, with more in the pipeline.
Yet, support services remain overloaded.
If wider efforts to improve the system and encourage more people to seek help are successful, demand will only grow.
Secondly, the reforms require — and rely on — better information sharing between the variety of organisations involved in family and domestic violence.
The information an individual organisation can provide might be useful, but it is exponentially more valuable when combined to create a full picture of the risks facing a victim-survivor.
A similar finding was made as part of WA Police's review of the Floreat double murder-suicide.
That information seemingly did not exist in Lynn's case because it does not appear she had reached out to any support services.
Instead, police were relying on what they had heard from her family, which, as the coroner noted, may not be the complete picture because "a victim-survivor's support network may not know how to report incidents when they are not the victim".
But that information is critical in allowing police to properly respond to the some 60,000 family and domestic violence calls they receive each year — a process they have improved, and have committed to improve further.
"While [police] still believe they made the right choices on the night, based upon the information before them, they appeared to agree that more information may have led to different choices," Ms Linton wrote.
An improved family and domestic violence system that better supports victim-survivors would attract more information, which could be useful for police in making better assessments.
That information would be particularly valuable for making accurate risk assessments during what evidence shows is the highest-risk period for victim-survivors: after they have dared to leave their partner.
But collecting and sharing that information takes time and resources, and so requires properly funded services.
None of the work the government has promised to do, or which the FDV sector has called on them to do for a long time, is a mystery yet to be worked out.
"Research indicates that intimate partner homicides are predictable and thereby, preventable, as very few happen without warning signs," Coroner Linton found.
That point is a clear message that protecting victim-survivors from further harm is not some idealistic dream to be realised some day in the distant future.
It is an aim within our reach.
But realising it requires immediate, meaningful action, both from our governments and the community.