Following the conviction of Darren Michael Dobson for the murder of Jodi Eaton, I requested a full briefing on the prior criminal history of the offender so we could understand what occurred in the lead up to this horrific crime.

It is of significant concern to myself and many members of our community that this case appears to demonstrate shortcomings in how our justice system identifies and deals with high-risk family violence offenders who have had multiple victims.

Based on the evidence I have seen, Dobson’s criminal record prior to murdering Jodi Eaton should have identified him as at very high risk of committing further violence against women. This raises the question of how we can better manage such individuals to try and reduce the risk of further offending and address any shortcomings in the system as it currently stands.

The Hodgman Liberal Government will continue to build on our $25 million Family Violence Action Plan, Safe Homes, Safe Families by exploring a range of measures to better manage high-risk offenders in order to keep the community safe, including:

• Moving to update the state’s Dangerous Criminal provisions.
• Developing a mechanism to flag family violence-related offences on a person’s criminal record, so it is clearer to prosecutors and magistrates when an offender has a pattern of family violence behaviour;
• Developing a Family Violence Bench Book to assist Magistrates and Judges in trials and sentencing of family violence offenders;
• Making sure that there are appropriate processes in place to identify high-risk family violence offenders with multiple victims;
• Consideration of whether reform of Tasmania’s bail provisions in the family violence context is required to improve community safety;
• Analysis of whether there are adequate supervision and intervention strategies in place to manage high-risk family violence offenders;
• Consideration of the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute’s report into possible reform of the law of self-defence in family violence cases, which is due for release soon.

The Government will work with Tasmania Police, the Department of Justice, the Courts and other stakeholders to scope the methodology and any further resources required to explore each of these areas.

We will continue to work closely with stakeholders and the legal community to investigate ways to improve court processes and sentencing options, as flagged in the Safe Homes, Safe Families action plan.

We will draw on advice from a wide range of work in this area including the Sentencing Advisory Council report on family violence which is expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 2015.

In a number of areas, reforms are already underway or identified for further work through the Safe Homes, Safe Families action plan.

This includes the establishment of a multi-agency, statewide unit to coordinate support services for victims and to hold perpetrators to account.

The Government has already committed $1.2 million to appoint three additional dedicated police prosecutors, and $2 million to support perpetrator programs for low to medium risk offenders which prevent them from progressing to more violent crimes. Five extra new sworn police officers will also be recruited to provide the resources for the new coordination unit.

We also welcome the Commonwealth Government’s recent announcement of a $100 million investment in family violence prevention.

As a Government we have demonstrated that where there are flaws in the justice system we will move to address them. We have already committed to abolish suspended sentences and replace them with alternative sentencing options, introduce minimum mandatory sentencing for serious child sexual offences and ensure that sex offenders receive appropriate treatment while in prison.
Vanessa Goodwin, Attorney-General