{"id":815117,"date":"2026-07-21T20:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/815117\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T20:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:56:14","slug":"the-queensland-government-promised-to-put-victims-first-instead-it-buried-a-report-from-domestic-violence-survivors-domestic-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/815117\/","title":{"rendered":"The Queensland government promised to put victims first. Instead it buried a report from domestic violence survivors | Domestic violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queensland<\/a> government has buried the findings of its own working group of domestic violence victim-survivors, after their report was heavily critical of police responses and called for a \u201ccivilian review mechanism\u201d to escalate complaints about police.<\/p>\n

The Liberal National government has repeatedly said it would \u201cput victims at the heart\u201d of the state\u2019s justice policies.<\/p>\n

In early 2025, the government convened a panel of people with lived experience of domestic, family and sexual violence to identify gaps in the system and guide reforms.<\/p>\n

A statement announcing the working group<\/a>, released by the domestic and family violence prevention minister, Amanda Camm, criticised the former Labor government and said it had \u201cfailed to implement recommendations\u201d related to the issue.<\/p>\n

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The working group concluded its work in December, but a summary report including its recommendations has never been publicly released. Camm\u2019s office refused a Guardian request to release the report this week.<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia has seen a copy of the summary report, which noted it was \u201cdeveloped for broader distribution\u201d and to address any concerns related to victim-survivor confidentiality.<\/p>\n

Panel members say they cannot speak publicly about the process. One source said on condition of anonymity: \u201cYou can say all that you want about being tough on crime and putting victims first, but if it doesn\u2019t come with CCTV footage for the news, then it\u2019s clearly not a government priority.\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sources familiar with the process believe the government\u2019s reluctance to release the report and its findings relates to the document\u2019s prominent and strong criticisms of police, including calls for independent oversight.<\/p>\n

Since the LNP came to office, the Queensland Police Service has scrapped its specialist domestic and family violence command<\/a>, and released a reform plan that said domestic and family violence case management was not \u201ccore business\u201d<\/a>. Police have been given additional powers to issue \u201con the spot\u201d directions that have seriously concerned women\u2019s advocates.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the recommendations from several reports that have raised concern about police responses to domestic violence have stalled. These include a long-overdue recommendation to establish a civilian-led police integrity unit to handle complaints.<\/p>\n

The leaked report by the victim-survivor working group devotes its first and most detailed section to policing. It said police responses were \u201cinconsistent\u201d and affected by \u201climited understanding and attitudinal concerns\u201d.<\/p>\n

It said policing responses were often dictated by individual officer attitudes rather than \u201cconsistent operational approaches\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictim-survivors reported delays in police responses, reporting processes and follow up actions,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome members felt breaches of DVOs were minimised or not treated with the level of seriousness expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn entrenched culture within policing was highlighted as a concern, characterised by inconsistent identification of breaches, and the application of personal judgement, undermining consistent and appropriate responses for victim-survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The panel made several recommendations in relation to police responses, including calls for the state to adopt nationally standard risk assessment tools and better victim-centred practices.<\/p>\n

It also called for \u201ca civilian review mechanism for escalating concerns about inadequate police responses\u201d.<\/p>\n

The report also made wide-ranging recommendations about the need for reforms to child protection, mental health, housing, the legal system, and specialist domestic and family violence services. It called for \u201cefforts to address ongoing experiences of systemic racism\u201d.<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia approached Camm on Monday asking why no report or recommendations had been made public, and if the minister would release them.<\/p>\n

Her office refused the request and did not provide a written response.<\/p>\n

Asked again about the report on Tuesday, Camm did not address questions about why the report had not been released.<\/p>\n

She sent a statement that said the government had made a \u201crecord high\u201d investment in domestic and family violence prevention and that the government planned to deliver more services, police and affordable housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is correct to report, following Labor\u2019s decade of decline, the Crisafulli Government has given a voice to victims of domestic and family violence and has prioritised turning around the deteriorating services we inherited from the former government,\u201d Camm said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, our government has increased DV Connect\u2019s answer rate from 41.9% under Labor to 84%.\u201d<\/p>\n

One source familiar with the report said they believed it was \u201cvery clear\u201d that the government\u2019s reluctance to release the summary report was because they were \u201cunwilling to act on many of the recommendations\u201d, especially those related to police.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t be for victims, but only when it suits your agenda,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

Since the 2024 election, the Crisafulli government has taken a hardline and \u201cvictim first\u201d approach to youth crime, including several tranches of legal reforms.<\/p>\n

At the same time, critics said the government had done comparatively little to address gender-based violence. Funding for domestic and family violence prevention was cut in the recent state budget<\/a>, and community sector workers said their services were overburdened and under-resourced.<\/p>\n

In Australia, domestic and family violence counselling <\/a>is available from Full Stop Australia on 1800 385 578. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline<\/a> on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women\u2019s Aid<\/a>. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queensland government has buried the findings of its own working group of domestic violence victim-survivors, after their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-815117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}