APS response to the South Australian Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Issues Paper

The APS welcomes the opportunity to provide input into the South Australian Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence and is happy to provide comment on the Issues Paper. We commend the initiative for its holistic approach to addressing the critical aspects of reduction of domestic, family and sexual violence including prevention and early intervention. In considering our response, we would also like to reiterate the importance of cultural safety and sensitivity positioned at the heart of all reform. Our response focused on the following:

1. Prevention: we advocate for evidence-based prevention strategies, advocating for substantial investment in education on respectful relationships and raising awareness of coercive control. We also stress the importance of driving social change to shift harmful attitudes and beliefs that ultimately contribute to violence.

2. Early Intervention: early intervention is a crucial yet underfunded area. We recommend increasing the number of rehabilitation clinicians, enhancing cross-agency collaboration and equality, and expanding access to psychological services, particularly in rural and remote areas, to address early warning signs of violence.

3. Response: throughout our response we advocate for trauma-informed training for professionals, the enhancement of centralised victim services, and the adoption of best practice interview approaches. The APS also supports systemic reforms that empower victim-survivors, such as the use of pre-recorded evidence, restorative justice options, and enhanving organisational approaches.

4. Recovery and Healing: adequate psychological support is vital to the long-term recovery of many victim-survivors and we strongly advocate for access to the support they need. We acknowledge that we must also provide offenders (or would be offenders) opportunities for behavioural change. There is a critical need to develop evidence-based offender programs.

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