The NSW government has announced that it will enact a new safety scheme this week, allowing all residents to run a police check on their partner to determine if they have a history domestic violence.
In an Australian first, NSW has introduced a new trial safety scheme that will allow anyone in the state the right to check if their partner has a history of domestic violence. The new Right To Ask scheme is the latest move from the state government to address the rising rates of domestic violence, and consequential deaths, in Australian households.
As part of the new structure, the NSW government will work closely with multiple local domestic violence organisations to provide greater safety to both men and women at risk. In a statement made on Monday, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said that the new policy is a necessary move to prevent the concerning number of violent offences made each year. “There are simply too many heartbreaking stories of women and men being seriously hurt or murdered in circumstances where the perpetrators had a history of prior domestic and violent criminal offences that they didn’t know about,” Perrottet said.
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The scheme comes as an extension of a previously enacted trial in 2016 of a selection of small demographics across NSW which proved effective over the two-year pilot period. The reformed notion now gives residents two forms of remote contact to reach legal authorities regarding their partner’s history: a hotline and an online portal. In the previous trial, people were required to attend a police station in person to make the request.
Inspired by the UK
The safety scheme is inspired by the United Kingdom’s Clare’s Law which was established just months after the murder of Clare Wood conducted by her partner at the time who had a number of prior assault convictions on his record. And while the policy is in place to protect both men and women from potential violent incidents, Deputy Premier and Police Minister Paul Toole said the revised tool is particularly critical for the safety of women in online dating scenarios.
In 2018, a study into online dating apps revealed that 42 per cent of women reported some formabuse from a partner with whom they met online. Now, three quarters of all users on the apps are reporting violence of some kind.
A trial, to start
The Right To Ask scheme is set to be in place for a minimum of 12 months during its trial period, to which the service will offer referrals to domestic violence support services for those in high risk situations. Minister for Women’s Safety and the Prevention of Domestic and Sexual Violence, Natalie Ward said that while there is no single solution to address domestic violence as a whole, the Right To Ask scheme is a small part of a greater initiative for safety against violence and abuse.
“We’ve also passed affirmative consent legislation, outlawed coercive control and expanded our primary prevention campaign Make No Doubt because we are addressing domestic violence at all stages,” she said. The scheme will be reviewed and adjusted after 12 months of operation.
