No Place To Hide For Abusers And Creeps

Everyone deserves to feel safe in their relationships, online and out in their community.

Labor has led the nation in responding to family violence and women’s safety.  

Now, a re-elected Carroll Labor Government will deliver new laws and new funding to keep you safe in public and at home.

Labor will let you check if your partner has a history of violence

Labor will introduce Clare’s Law and deliver Victoria’s first domestic violence disclosure scheme.

This scheme will let you ask police if your partner has a history of violence or abuse.

You can also ask about the partner of a family member or friend if you’re worried they’re at risk – and Victoria Police have to tell you.

The law is named after Clare Wood, who was murdered by her abusive ex-partner in the UK in 2009.

It’s in place in South Australia.

Labor will bring it here – with a model based on SA’s scheme – to give Victorians the information they need to make decisions about their safety.

Under the SA scheme, any member of the public can ask on behalf of themselves or a friend or relative.

Police can also proactively provide the information to anyone they deem at risk.

The SA scheme allows police to share previous domestic violence or violence convictions, police reports, charges and arrests, and intervention orders and breaches.

Labor will ban smart glasses in places you’d never want to be recorded

Smart glasses make it impossible to tell when someone is filming you or your children.

Labor will ban smart glasses in places where creeps could use them to prey on women and children – like swimming pools, change rooms and community sporting venues.

To protect people at risk, we’ll also ban them in sensitive settings like hospitals, aged care facilities, and family violence and victim services.

Labor has already banned smart glasses in schools, kinders and childcare centres.

This is the next step. We want Australia’s toughest protections against illegal filming.

We’ll work with councils on consistent rules for council-run pools and leisure centres.

Labor will kick family violence perpetrators and sex predators off dating apps

Labor will ban people convicted of family violence or sexual offences from using dating apps. It will be a criminal offence.

The Australian Institute of Criminology found a third of people had been sexually assaulted by someone they met on a dating app or website in the past five years.

Because these apps should never be a hunting ground for predators.

Labor will stop family violence abusers controlling decisions after death

Perpetrators must not become next of kin following the death of their victim.

They don’t deserve to have any say over decisions after their death.

Labor will give coroners the power to appoint an alternative next of kin in cases involving domestic violence allegations, charges or estrangement.

Labor will hire more family violence workers to help 10,000 more Victorians

Most importantly, Labor’s tougher laws will be matched with more frontline support.

Labor has already established 60 Orange Door locations.

We’ll invest $15.5 million in the Orange Door to boost staff and resources – it will help an additional 10,000 victim survivors.

We will also invest $16 million for a new Early Intervention and Prevention Fund.

The fund will deliver grants for intervention programs just like Back On Track, which works with children who are beginning to replicate the behaviour of their abusers.

Safe + Equal – the peak body for family violence organisations – will run the grants fund.

Quotes attributable to Premier Ben Carroll

“You deserve to know if your partner has a secret violent past.”

“Tech has changed, so must our laws. Creeps shouldn’t be able to secretly film kids at Saturday sport.”

Quotes attributable to Attorney-General and Minister for Prevention of Family Violence Sonya Kilkenny  

“Tougher laws backed by more frontline workers to help another 10,000 Victorians.”

“Violent perpetrators have no place on dating apps. It’s that simple.”

“We must not allow perpetrators of family violence to continue their control after a victim’s death.”