Ms JODIE HARRISON (Charlestown—Minister for Women, Minister for Seniors, and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault)—I contribute to debate on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences) Bill 2025. Before I begin, I acknowledge Tabitha Acret and her powerful advocacy, which has culminated in the bill we are debating today. Tabitha's lived experience is one that no mother should have to endure. Her daughter, Mackenzie, was violently murdered by Tyrone Thompson in March 2022. Thompson was sentenced in May this year to a minimum of 15½ years and a maximum of 22½ years for murder. We must do everything we can in this place to drive change and protect victim‑survivors of gender‑based violence. On standard non‑parole periods, the case for change is clear. Over the five years to June 2025, 59 lives were lost to intimate partner violence. The ripple effect of those deaths reverberates across friends, families, loved ones and the broader community.
Under the current sentencing framework, the standard non‑parole period for murder is 20 years. The threshold increases to 25 years if the victim is under the age of 18 or a public official murdered in the course of their duties. Courts currently have the discretion to impose life sentences in the most serious cases. However, this Government has listened deeply to families impacted by intimate partner homicide. Their input raises serious questions about whether the existing sentencing framework is in line with community expectations and whether it reflects the gravity of the crime. Clearly, it does not. That is why we must pass this bill. The bill amends the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 to establish a new standard non‑parole period of 25 years for the murder of a current or former intimate partner. Schedule 3 [1] will bring the standard non‑parole period for intimate partner homicide in line with those other categories of murder which attract a standard non‑parole period of 25 years. The higher standard non‑parole period will not be retrospective; it will apply to intimate partner murder offences that occur after the bill passes into law.
The bill also reforms the prosecution approval process for sexual offences against victims with a cognitive impairment and for incest offences. Currently, prosecutions for those offences can only commence with the Attorney General's approval. That power has been delegated to the Director of Public Prosecutions in line with New South Wales Government Gazette No. 86 of 31 August 2012 and section 11 (2) of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1986. As a delegated power, the director must make a personal assessment of the decision to prosecute and cannot delegate that responsibility further. Schedule 1 [1] will amend sections 66F (8) and 78F of the Crimes Act 1900 to allow those offences to be commenced with the approval of either the Attorney General or the Director of Public Prosecutions. This will effectively embed existing arrangements into legislation and provide the flexibility to allow the Director of Public Prosecutions to delegate the function to appropriate officers.
Schedule 2 to the bill will also amend the definition of "personal violence offence". This will ensure that additional offences are considered with respect to applications for apprehended personal violence orders or apprehended domestic violence orders. In accordance with that, the following offences would be added to the Crimes Act 1900 as personal violence offences: assault causing death, to align with other homicide offences; inflicting injuries to a child at the time of birth and of causing the loss of a foetus, to align with offences involving grievous bodily harm; sexual offences involving victims with a cognitive impairment, to align with other sexual offences against vulnerable people; and attempted incest, for consistency with how standalone attempt offences are treated. Essentially, the bill is about correcting small omissions which have developed over time as new offences were added to the statute book. The bill builds on the Government's record of reforming the justice system to work better for victim‑survivors and it complements our broader strategy to build a safer New South Wales. As Tabitha said when we announced this reform:
… laws alone are not enough … it takes a united community to call out discrimination, to stand against violence, and to build a future grounded in respect and equality.
She is absolutely right. I echo Tabitha's call for us to double‑down in the primary prevention space. The Minns Labor Government is working to disrupt domestic violence from all angles, through primary prevention, early intervention, crisis responses and justice reform. The 2024‑25 budget unveiled a $245.6 million investment, including an emergency package funding a number of historic reforms such as $48.1 million to extend and expand the Specialist Workers for Children and Young People program, $48 million to rollout Staying Home Leaving Violence statewide and expand the Integrated Domestic and Family Violence Services program, $29.6 million additional funding for Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Services to support victim‑survivors to navigate the justice system, $10 million to expand Men's Behaviour Change Programs, and $38.3 million to implement New South Wales first dedicated Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Primary Prevention Strategy.
The bill is about setting a framework to challenge underlying beliefs and cultures that tolerate, and too often condone, violence against women and children. Essentially this work is about stopping violence before it starts, and it applies right across the board, whether it be at sporting fields, in classrooms, childcare settings, workplaces and more. Examples of some of the primary prevention work underway include the NSW Primary Prevention Multi‑Year Partnerships Grant Program, with $5.175 million awarded to 11 organisations across New South Wales to lead prevention projects in local communities; $8.1 million awarded to the Women's and Girls' Emergency Centre to expand the All In program and promote healthy and respectful attitudes in early childhood centres while children are young; $500,000 to launch the Multi‑Sport Coalition and guide initiatives focused on empowering sports organisations to address gender inequality and drivers of violence; and more than $850,000 awarded to six Aboriginal community controlled organisations to support Aboriginal‑led prevention.
To build on this work, the 2025‑26 budget committed an additional $272.7 million over four years to continue critical services and commence long‑term system reform. Specifically, $25.3 million will support victim‑survivors to be safe, including $9.3 million to implement Serious Domestic Abuse Prevention Orders, subjecting high‑risk offenders to strict monitoring and supervision; $4.6 million to bolster electronic monitoring of high‑risk offenders on parole orders or intensive correction orders; $8.9 million to continue and expand the DV Notify pilot program; and $2.5 million to support the Domestic Violence Line to stay open 24 hours, seven days a week.
Separately, the long‑term reform work to our systems is all about building a stronger workforce and intervening earlier. Funding to support these objectives includes $2.5 million to deliver a domestic and family violence workforce strategy to address skills gaps and meet changing needs; $3.6 million for the common approach to risk assessment and safety framework, ensuring that victim‑survivors benefit from a consistent and safe response while allowing earlier intervention to prevent violence from escalating; $2 million to rollout the Aboriginal Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Plan to support our Target 13 commitment to Closing the Gap; $3.1 million to start work on a data strategy to give us confidence that our investment is going where it is needed; and five‑year contracts for domestic and family violence support services to give the sector's workforce certainty.
Victim‑survivors should not be forced to choose between having a roof over their head and their safety. The Government's housing agenda takes that into account. Under the Building Homes for NSW program, $5.1 billion is earmarked to build 8,400 social homes—6,200 will be new homes and 2,200 will be replacement homes. Of the 6,200 new homes, at least 50 per cent will be prioritised for victim‑survivors of domestic and family violence. Earlier this month, I was proud to join the Premier, Minister Jackson and Minister Scully to announce a $130 million investment for the new Building Crisis Housing Plan. We have achieved a lot in this space since coming to government, but we know there is more to do. We will continue to address domestic and family violence with the much-needed multifaceted approach because too many lives have been lost and too much trauma has been inflicted.
The bill represents the next step in what has been a suite of legislative reform in New South Wales. I thank the Attorney General for his incredibly hard work in this space and for bringing this important bill to the Parliament. It is the Minns Labor Government that has ensured magistrates and judges are making bail decisions, not registrars. It is the Minns Labor Government that legislated to crack down on deepfake sexually explicit content and raised the threshold required for people accused of serious domestic violence offences to secure bail. Reforming standard non‑parole periods for intimate partner homicide offences is about making sure the law reflects public expectations and the seriousness of the offence
This Government listens to the lived experience of victim‑survivors and the advice of experts. I reiterate my thanks to the Attorney General and the stakeholders who have been previously identified. Preventing domestic and family violence requires us all to come together and take a united stand. I hope that is what we are doing in this bill. I commend the bill to the House.
