00:00I don't think they can prevent it. That's what an 11-year-old child wrote on a postcard
00:08addressed to the Domestic Violence Royal Commission. The words sum up the despair many South Australians
00:13felt at the end of 2023. Six deaths within weeks, each linked to alleged family and domestic
00:20violence. More than a year later, and the Royal Commission that was called in the wake
00:24of the deaths, has heard from hundreds of South Australians, all with a story or insight
00:30into domestic, family and sexual violence. Much of what Royal Commissioner Natasha Stott
00:35Despoja was told is yet to be made public. But what was said at the public hearings paints
00:41a disturbing picture. The forms of violence discussed were varied. Coercive control, female
00:46genital mutilation, forced marriage, financial abuse and withholding medications, to name
00:52a few. The Commission heard SA Police responds to 100 domestic incidents and issues nine
00:58intervention orders on average each day. It also heard that women were being let down
01:03by systems gaps in regional areas and through the Child Protection and Family Court systems.
01:09But Miss Stott Despoja says she believes it is possible to prevent domestic violence.
01:14It's an issue that I am confronted with every day now. I'm conscious of every day, whether
01:22it's in South Australia, Australia, or globally. And it is haunting.
01:29Miss Stott Despoja is expected to hand down a report with recommendations to the State
01:33Government in July.
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