It’s no time for celebration, reforms long overdue

QUEENSLANDERS should not be congratulating their parliamentarians today, thinking the domestic violence beast has been locked away forever.

They should not be thinking this cancer that has eaten away at families and therefore at the fabric of wider society has finally been put to rest. It hasn’t.

Reforms that have finally passed through Parliament have only come about because with a few exceptions, Queensland MPs were forced to act by pressure from newspapers such as the Bulletin and, in recent days, the prominence this paper gave to urging by the State Coroner for the Attorney-General to act to review bail laws so that the presumption in favour of bail is revoked in extreme DV cases.

The reforms now in place are badly needed and give courts greater powers to keep the threat contained. But reversing the onus of proof in bail applications and requiring someone accused of a violent domestic crime to prove why they should remain at liberty, while long overdue, is not a permanent solution.

The community, police, the courts, frightened families and indeed the perpetrators themselves have yet to draw out the real reasons why angry men brutalise their frightened partners and children.

Incidents will continue to occur, even though offenders now will be locked away longer.

The source of the sickness still has to be identified and confronted. Sadly, that might prove impossible.

In the meantime, this is not a moment to bask in the glow of a job well done. Yes, a significant step has finally been taken and we must acknowledge the tough-as-nails lobbying by one local MP in particular, Ros Bates.

But it is sad it has taken this long for the Queensland Parliament to act, especially since more than two years have passed since the landmark Not Now, Not Ever report was handed to the Government with a blueprint for dealing with family violence.

Until Parliament passed the bail laws early yesterday, all we heard from leaders were well-meaning words while little was actually done.

The evidence for that lies in the roll call of the dead.