The Queensland Government will bring forward the launch of a Domestic and Family Violence peak body by four years.
State Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence Minister Amanda Camm said the new peak body, to be formed by the Queensland Domestic Violence Service Network (QDVSN), would begin operating from January next year.
Minister Camm said the new group would give the sector appropriate representation and work to protect more victims of domestic and family violence sooner.
She said the QDVSN would continue the work started by interim peak QCOSS, which was initially contracted in March, 2024, to deliver the completed body by December 31, 2029.
“The work already undertaken by QCOSS will be finalised by the specialised services in QDVSN, which will be able to add their decades of experience working with domestic and family violence victims to complete the final steps of forming the peak.”
Minister Camm said the introduction of the DFV peak body would come at a pivotal time, with new laws passed last month.
She said the laws included Police Protection Directions, a new tool for police to immediately protect victims for 12-months, while the pilot of the GPS monitoring of high-risk DFV perpetrators would also had been underway for three months.
“Additionally, the Government will commission a first of its kind study in Queensland, conducted by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, on misidentification in DFV settings.”
Minister Camm said during the committee process of the introduction of Police Protection Directions, the DFV sector spoke at length about misidentification in Queensland.
“This study will give the government an evidenced based picture of the issue.”
The announcement came on the same day the State Government revealed the Queensland Sexual Assault Network (QSAN) would receive funding to establish a peak body for sexual violence support services.
Minister Camm said the new initiative was a recommendation of the Women’s Safety Justice Taskforce and the decision to fund the peak body formation and its ongoing operations came at the start of Sexual Violence Awareness month.
She said the new peak body would be stood up in the first half of 2026 and once established would represent the sector across the State.
“The data paints a very harrowing picture of the levels of domestic and family violence and sexual violence in our communities and the work that needs to be done to better protect women and hold perpetrators to account.”
Minister Camm said in Queensland last year, Australian Bureau of Statistics data revealed:
- 85 percent of sexual assault victims were female.
- 42 percent of all sexual assaults occurred within a domestic and family violence context.
- 33 percent of victims were aged between 10 and 17 years at the time of the recorded incident.
- 67 percent of victims knew the offender.
- Only 71 percent of assaults were reported to police within a year of the incident.
- 67 percent occurred at a residential location.
- 988 victims of sexual assault were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
