False

Consideration transferred

The Legislative Assembly referred this Auditor-General’s report to the former Legal Affairs and Safety Committee on 10 November 2023. On 13 February 2024, the Legislative Assembly amended Schedule 6 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly, establishing the Community Safety and Legal Affairs Committee, and transferred this Auditor-General’s report to the Community Safety and Legal Affairs Committee for consideration.   

OVERVIEW

Role of the Auditor-General 

The role of the Auditor-General is to provide Parliament with independent assurance of public sector accountability and performance. This is achieved through reporting to Parliament on the results of its financial and performance audits and other insights.

About the Auditor-General Report

The Auditor-General's report looked at how effectively public sector entities keep people safe from Domestic and Family Violence (DFV), prevent it from occurring, and rehabilitate perpetrators to minimise re-offending. The Queensland Audit Office (QAO) also assessed how the entities coordinate with non-government DFV services. The QAO concluded that the Queensland Government recognises the size of the DFV challenge and is taking steps to deal with it, but more training, more information-sharing, and more monitoring of efforts is required. This, together with a holistic focus and a concerted, coordinated approach, will help the entities involved to make more of a difference. The QAO's report contains 21 recommendations for improvements to the current system.

Among the QAO findings in respect of government entities' effectiveness in responding to DFV were that:

• The government needs to strengthen its prevention, education, and early intervention services to ensure action occurs before risk escalates
• The relevant public sector entities are not effectively rehabilitating perpetrators of domestic violence, largely because they have not developed nor invested in adequate or sufficient rehabilitation programs
• The state government has invested considerable effort and funds in improving its response, and there are some early signs of progress. Police are doing more in terms of referrals to DFV support services, and in applying for and issuing protection orders and notices
• Significant gaps exist in coordination between response entities and DFV service providers. Police need to improve the ways in which they respond, and other entities could provide more support to help them in this
• Police and other DFV response workers need to be trained in how to work together to provide complete, seamless, and effective case management. In addition, many of the people involved – including police first responders and specialists – lack job-specific DFV training.

Referral to committee 

Standing Order 194B provides that the Committee of the Legislative Assembly shall as soon as practicable after a report of the Auditor-General is tabled in the Assembly refer that report to the relevant portfolio committee(s) for consideration.

The committee is responsible under section 94 of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 for assessing the integrity, economy, efficiency and effectiveness of government financial management by examining government financial documents and considering reports of the Auditor-General.

The Committee of the Legislative Assembly referred this Auditor-General report to the committee on 10 November 2022.