Family and domestic violence—Warren–Blackwood
Grievance
Mr Bevan Eatts (Warren–Blackwood) (10:04 am): My grievance, or rather my plea, is to the Minister for Child Protection; Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence. Before I start, I want to acknowledge some people in the public gallery who are deeply invested in this issue and have travelled a considerable distance to be here. I really appreciate the support of Jules and Dee from Gulyara Aboriginal Corporation and Dave and Peter from the Western Australian Police Union.
I thank the minister for taking this grievance. There is no domestic and family violence refuge anywhere in Warren–Blackwood. There are none in Manjimup, Bridgetown, Boyup Brook, Augusta, Margaret River or Denmark. This is not just a policy gap; it is a real-world safety failure, one that puts women and children at risk every single day. It is also a failure of leadership and promise keeping. For the women and children of Warren–Blackwood, it is a failure of protection.
I want to be absolutely clear: the absence of a local refuge is putting lives on the line. One young mother in my electorate—I will call her Eve—lived through a level of brutality that most of us cannot imagine. The violence was not a bad night or an argument, but calculated terror. She was strangled in front of her baby, dragged from her car, hit over the head with a shovel and kicked while lying on the bitumen as her children screamed. This was not in Perth or some far-off town; rather, it was in Manjimup, in the heart of Warren–Blackwood. Eve did everything we tell victims to do. She got a restraining order. He breached it again and again. She told people she felt like a sitting duck in her own home, lying awake at night, listening for footsteps, praying that the next knock on the door was not the last thing she would ever hear. Because there is no refuge in our region, Eve was forced into a choice that no mother should ever face—run or die. She packed clothes, formula, nappies—whatever she could grab. She said goodbye to her dogs, knowing she might not see them again, and drove, without having a driver's licence, herself and her three children almost two hours because staying in Manjimup meant not surviving.
Eve said something that has stayed with me ever since:
I was so scared to leave and drive to another town. I worry so much about women who do not have cars, who can't get away.
That is the reality in Warren–Blackwood. It is the cost of government inaction. Minister, I sit in this chamber and listen to you speak with great conviction, often at length, about how much you have done, how committed the government is and how it has invested so much, but none of this has helped Eve. I cannot help but sit here and think that the Labor government has turned its back on Eve and on the women and children of Warren–Blackwood because for all the talk and self-congratulation, not a cent of that investment has delivered a single refuge in my electorate—not one local crisis bed. What good are words when they do not reach the people who need them? Every time I raise this issue, the government reaches for a political distraction and points to decisions made in Perth years ago by former the Lord Mayor as though that somehow explains its excuses and what is happening on its watch right now. That is irrelevant, a deflection and, frankly, pitiful.
Everyone in this chamber knows that it is not my style to raise the issue of trauma to score points; I raise it because the people I represent are in danger and they are being ignored. Members of our community asked Labor to make an election promise fund to fund a local refuge. The answer was no. Violence does not pick post codes, and neither should safety. There is still no refuge, emergency accommodation and local crisis response based in my electorate. There is nothing in the current budget to change that. Meanwhile, the refuge in Bunbury turned away 817 women and children last year due to capacity. How many came from Warren–Blackwood? How many are now back in the homes they fled because they had nowhere else to go? Just this year, the refuge in Busselton turned away 286 unassisted inquiries between January and June. Of those, 29% were women with three or more children.
While services collapse under pressure, our police are left to pick up the pieces. The police union supports our call. They say the current system strains officers, delays response times and undermines community safety. We have received a formal letter of support. I seek leave to table this letter.
(The paper was tabled for the information of members.)
Mr Bevan Eatts: This is not just a safety issue; it is also a resourcing issue, particularly for our police. When there is no local refuge, police are the ones who step in. When police in Warren–Blackwood respond to domestic violence incidents and must transport victims two hours away to the nearest available refuge, it creates a ripple effect of challenges. Officers are removed from local patrol duties for extended periods, leaving communities with reduced coverage. These extended call-outs often involve emotionally charged, high-stress situations. Officers must manage the immediate safety concerns, provide trauma-informed support and drive long distances, contributing to burnout and fatigue.
Minister, this is not just about infrastructure; it is about people and dignity. It is about life and death. Women in Warren–Blackwood should not have to flee 200 kilometres to find shelter. Children should not have to sleep in cars because their mums are doing everything they can to stay alive. Police officers should not be left to carry the weight of a broken system. Today, I am calling on the government to act—not eventually, not under consideration but now. This is more than a grievance; it is a plea to help the women and children of Warren–Blackwood to stay alive. I am pleading with the Minister for Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence and the Premier to act now. Do not turn away. Stand with us and deliver what is needed.
Mrs Jessica Stojkovski (Kingsley—Minister for Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence) (10:11 am): I thank the member for raising the issue of family and domestic violence in his Warren–Blackwood region with me today. As members are aware, this year's 16 Days in WA campaign is focusing on men and boys playing their part in ending family and domestic violence. I commend the member for Warren–Blackwood for advocating on this issue on behalf of this part of his community. I encourage him to continue doing so. In a previous debate, the member said that he felt awkward doing so. I do not think that he should, because he does it with dignity. I also want to acknowledge his constituent Eve for her bravery and courage in sharing her story with him and allowing the member to share it with us. As the Minister for Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence, I acknowledge that Western Australia has some way to go in ending this scourge in our society. One child or woman who suffers family and domestic violence is one too many.
As I have mentioned in the past, our government has invested a record $708 million in new funding to raise awareness, support victims and hold perpetrators to account. This includes a new record $110 million funding package announced by the Premier on Monday. The package includes $14.8 million to expand access to crisis accommodation for victim-survivors. Since we came into government in 2017, we have increased refuge capacity to 91 units. But as members would be aware, we are a very large state, so delivering these units across our state is a challenge. With the latest announcement, we have taken the number of refuge units in the pipeline to an additional 102. This means that we have now increased the refuge capacity in this state by 41% over the last eight years—with the current 102-units building program being the biggest that Western Australia has ever seen—to provide crisis, transitional and step-down options for women and children fleeing violence. This morning, I was joined by the Minister for Police to detail the $34.9 million package to expand family and domestic violence response teams and enable metropolitan teams to operate seven days a week, in line with regional teams, to allow for additional staff. Regional response teams have been operating seven days a week for most of this year. They started early this year and this announcement means that metro teams will now join them seven days a week.
We also have $45.8 million to strengthen our system-wide response to family and domestic violence, which includes our Safe at Home program, coercive control training for first responders and a behaviour change program for FDV perpetrators. Another $14.4 million is going towards continuing priority initiatives supporting FDV victims, including counselling and therapeutic services. Tailored and culturally appropriate services and prevention efforts are needed for regional communities. We have delivered the state's first five FDV one-stop hubs, one being in Broome and another in Kalgoorlie, while our family and domestic violence response teams operate seven days a week across the regional WA network. Almost half of the 45 refuges and safe houses we fund are in the regions, and we have committed to increasing their capacity. However, I know that there is always more to do right across our very vast state.
In Warren–Blackwood, the new $110 million FDV package includes funding for the South West's Coordinated Response Service, which works with the Western Australia Police Force and the Department of Communities to assist people impacted by family and domestic violence. Women and children impacted by FDV in the Warren–Blackwood region can also access the Coordinated Response Service, refuge outreach teams and the Safe at Home program, which provides emergency accommodation, safety planning and connections to local services. Additional supports also reach into the region, with outreach and safety services extending from Bunbury, Busselton, Albany and Katanning. The $109.9 million package also extends the operations of a number of South West programs including the South West's Men's Behaviour Change program; flexible support package funding for the Bunbury and Busselton refuges; DVAssist, which provides telephone-based counselling and support; and funding for counselling and advocacy services, which includes the Waratah support service. The state government also funds the following existing South West services: the Harbour refuge, including community outreach services; the Tuart House refuge, including community outreach services from Busselton; the Safe at Home program, which is operated by Harbour; the Waratah domestic violence counselling services for children and adults; and the South West's Men's Behaviour Change program. We also have the family and domestic violence response team in Bunbury.
The Department of Communities and WA police will always do what is required to keep women and children safe in the member's electorate. The Cook government will continue to investigate ways to improve responses to FDV in the Warren–Blackwood community. I want to thank the member for raising this with me and bringing the concerns of the community and their safety to my attention. I welcome the invitation to meet with local organisations in the member's electorate that work hard to prevent and respond to FDV in his community. I can assure the member and all Western Australians that we are committed to protecting women and children, stopping violence before it starts and holding perpetrators to account. I want to reiterate that I welcome the member bringing this to me and commend him for playing his part during these 16 days, because men need to walk alongside us if we are ever going to stop family and domestic violence.
