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Earlier this month, the Queensland Government released its first annual report providing an overview of its progress on implementing the reform program set out by the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce. The report notes that of the 89 recommendations made by the Taskforce in the Hear her voice – Report one, 24 have been delivered, 56 are underway, and 9 are not yet scheduled to commence.

Key achievements highlighted in the report include (amongst others):

• the commencement of the Domestic and Family Violence Protection (Combating Coercive Control) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 on 1 August 2023, which modernises and strengthens the offence of unlawful stalking, addresses the patterned nature of coercive control, and lays the foundation to create a standalone offence of coercive control; 
• systemic reform through the appointment of Queensland’s inaugural First Nations Justice Officer and the establishment of a First Nations Justice Office (Recommendation 1); 
• the ongoing development of a DFV and coercive control communication and engagement strategy (Recommendation 5) and consultation for the development of a Primary Prevention Plan (Recommendation 9); 
• respect and respectful relationship programs made available to all Queensland schools (Recommendation 10) and tailored professional development and teacher relief for state school staff to strengthen the delivery of respectful relationships education (Recommendation 11);
• the release of a revised DFV Common Risk and Safety Framework and the ongoing development of an evidence-based (Recommendation 21), trauma informed DFV training and change management framework (Recommendation 23);
• the review and update of the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 Benchbook to provide clear direction and guidance to judicial officers around risk factors, myths and stereotypes (Recommendation 67); and 
• commenced implementation for two new specialist domestic and family violence courts in Cairns and Brisbane (Recommendation 50).  

The Queensland Government has committed to tabling annual reports in Parliament to help ensure transparency and accountability of the reform program. 

The second biannual report by the Office of the Independent Implementation Supervisor (OIIS) was also tabled earlier in the month. The OIIS was established in November 2022 following recommendations from the Hear Her Voice Reports One and Two and the November 2022 Call for Change Report (A Call for Change: Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service responses to domestic and family violence) and is charged with oversighting and reporting on the progress and adequacy of implementation of the Government Response to the three reports. The OISS second biannual report observes a strong and genuine commitment by the Government to implement the recommendations of all three reports: ‘To date, government agencies and the CCC have been making good faith efforts to implement a reform program that is extensive in breadth, scale and complexity. Non-government stakeholders have worked collaboratively and with goodwill to support the implementation process.’

For more information on coercive control reforms across Australia, you can refer to our coercive control reform tracker and get in touch with our Pro Bono practice.