The dramatic increase in domestic violence call-outs is a clear indication that the Fyles Labor Government policies are failing Territorians, especially those most in need.
Shadow Minister for Territory Families, Josh Burgoyne, said that in Alice Springs there were 179 domestic violence related police call outs over a seven day period in July, as revealed in answers from written questions posed to the Fyles Labor Government from the CLP Opposition.
“This is shocking. That’s more than 25 domestic violence call-outs on average every day.
“This was just days after the stronger futures legislation ended where Police reported 54 incidents of Domestic violence occurred over a 48 hour period.
“What are Labor doing to protect women and the most vulnerable in our community?
“These statistics show a shocking increase in DV incidents over a week after the stronger futures legislation ended.
“There was no planning and very little consultation, despite many calls by the opposition and others in the NGO sector to rethink their plans, Labor pushed ahead anyway.
“These statistics show the very real cost of Labor’s poorly thought out changes and the impact it is having on our community.
“Further questions on declared rehabilitation programs revealed that the Fyles Government has only one program in place, the Tangentyere Council Men’s Behaviour Change Program in Alice Springs, where only five offenders have successfully completed the program over two years and eight are pending completion.
“Just 20 individuals were ordered to attend a declared rehabilitation program over two years.
“That means that the program, the only declared men’s behaviour program in the NT, has only dealt with one week’s worth of domestic violence offenders in Alice Springs over the course of two years. This gives us a 25% completion rate with a 25% re-offending rate within 12 months of participation.
“With such a domestic violence increase surely more needs to be done to rehabilitate offenders so the problems do not continue.
“This is just not good enough. “Clearly there are major issues surrounding domestic violence in our community and the Fyles Labor Government are failing to keep the most vulnerable safe and offenders off the streets,” said Mr Burgoyne.
ENDS