00:00I think there's been a lot of progress at a federal level that has happened in terms
00:06of the rapid review.
00:07I think what we're lacking is a bit of a communications gap to the broader sector about what's exactly
00:13happening.
00:14Now, it's important to note that the states and territories made the commitment to review
00:19their liquor acts as part of national cabinet.
00:21State and territory governments have signed on to the national plan, but we're seeing
00:25a lot of stalling and a lot of, oh, we're not really sure, there's not enough evidence.
00:30There's heaps of evidence.
00:32There's heaps of it.
00:32Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Institute of Family Studies, Foundation
00:38of Research and Education.
00:40There's a lot of evidence that says restricting these delivery laws will help people who are
00:46living in violence.
00:47Why do you think then that the states and territories haven't brought these things in?
00:52I think that alcohol enjoys a large social framework in Australia.
00:58There's no other way to look at it.
01:01And I think it's so important to remember that we're not calling for banning alcohol.
01:07We want to reduce the harm.
01:09Now, we've already done that.
01:11We've done that when we looked at drink driving.
01:14So I think for me, I don't really understand what the difference is and why there's a hold
01:20up, is it perhaps because we consider harm that happens in the home to be private and
01:27we consider harm that happens on the road to be public?
01:30I'm not sure.
01:31But the reality is it's all harm reduction and we've already done it and we've done it
01:34successfully through regulation.
01:36So I'm looking forward to when we have all the states and territories on board.
01:41You mentioned evidence in numerous studies about it.
01:45What, for a layman, what is the direct link between alcohol and gambling?
01:51That comes into the bracket too.
01:52And domestic violence?
01:54I think it's important to note that when you have episodes of physical violence that
02:02are occurring and someone is living in violence, alcohol is an accelerator.
02:08And when the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare were interviewing people, they
02:13were far more likely to have severe physical injury when alcohol was involved.
02:20Now, if you imagine then that we have alcohol available on a tap 24 hours in someone's home,
02:27it's likely to make those situations extremely volatile but also extremely unsafe.
02:33And the gambling side of it, there were calls for a gambling ad ban, which we know that
02:38the government isn't currently pursuing.
02:41I think that when you lower inhibitions, people will make choices and those choices can result
02:48in extremely stressful outcomes, which again, we're talking about lowered inhibitions,
02:54poor choices, pressure cooker situation, financial situation.
02:58You're creating an environment that is ripe for serious physical injury for people who
03:04are living in violence.
03:05There were 21 recommendations, Catherine, in this rapid review.
03:09What progress has been made?
03:12Look, I think that there are a lot of initiatives that are occurring, particularly at a federal
03:17level.
03:18So we're looking at different, particularly the legislation arm of it.
03:21We've certainly contributed to a lot of those changes, be that on social security reform in
03:28terms of debt waiver payments and taking into consideration of coercive control.
03:33I think the problem is that it appears to be patchy to the average Australian.
03:39And what we actually need is a comprehensive communication document from all of National Cabinet
03:45to say where exactly we're up to and which of the initiatives have been adopted.
03:50It was not so long ago, Catherine, that domestic violence in Australia was described as a
03:56national emergency, and that's why this rapid review took place.
04:01It just seems odd that we've come to a roadblock here with the states and territories, bipartisan
04:08support.
04:08What do you think is the roadblock and is it overcomable?
04:13Absolutely.
04:13It has to be overcomable because all of our governments across the Federation have committed
04:18to ending violence in one generation.
04:20And I think there is real will.
04:22I think if you were to ask your average politician, is it acceptable when someone's murdered because
04:27of a system failure, they would say no.
04:29But what we need to do is keep the attention on it.
04:32We have a lot of people in Australia who are living in violence.
04:37What kind of Australia are we building if we don't provide better pathways across early
04:42intervention, prevention, crisis response and a health recovery?
04:47Actually, it needs attention across all of it.
04:50So we have a robust and healthy society in Australia.
Comments