DV ATTACKERS NEED HELP TOO: BETTER FAMILIES
THE Gold Coast Senate candidate for the Australian Better Families Party says accused perpetrators of domestic violence are “victims” too.
Coomera’s Darren Caulfield, a helicopter crash survivor, electrician and now Senate candidate, is running as number one on the Senate ticket for the party, which was founded on the fathers’ rights group Australian Brotherhood of Fathers.
Mr Caulfield, a father of three and twice divorced, told the Bulletin he believed that both sides of family violence and child support cases needed further support.
“The system is failing victims, all ages, all genders, all sexuality – all victims must be supported,” he said.
“In a way everyone involved in family violence is a victim and carries a scar from family violence.”
When asked to clarify if by all victims he also meant the accused Mr Caulfield said yes, until the evidence was tested in court and they were found guilty. “Unfortunately men are the ones getting all the media and are valued less in the eyes of the court,” he said. “We need to support everyone during this time, we also have policies on homelessness and suicide.”
Mr Caulfield said he believed Queensland courts were deliberately failing to notify accused DV perpetrators of court dates.
“We know Queensland police had been directed by magistrates to pervert the course of justice and not to notify respondent fathers they are due to appear in court until after the hearing,” Mr Caulfield said. “We have had people coming forward to tell us that.
“There are major cultural changes that need to happen.”
Previously a member of the LNP, Mr Caulfield did away with his membership after major domestic violence legislation changes in State Parliament listed women, children and minorities as people who may be particularly vulnerable to domestic violence.
“They may as well have written not men, it would have been shorter,” he said.
Despite the perceived focus on men’s rights, Mr Caulfield said the party sought to make changes for all genders and backgrounds.
“We have plans for child support reform, food security, aged care and clean energy,” he said. “Everyone needs to be treated the same.”
Mr Caulfield, who ran for council in 2012, also is a qualified mediator and runs a supervised contact centre on his property.