The Queensland Police Union estimates a domestic violence related incident is happening every three minutes, with officers responding to more than 500 domestic violence call outs every day around Queensland.
In the Cairns region alone, more than 23 thousand breaches of protection orders have been recorded in the past 12 months.
There’s a push to make ‘commit domestic and family violence’ a standalone offence to hold perpetrators to account, with the Police Union hoping the proposed blueprint will get across the line.
The Union’s President Shane Prior says an overhaul of the system would ease the pressure on police resources and tackling perpetrators’ behavior would free up police resources.
“With the current approaches we’re failing to adequately protect victims and change perpetrator behaviour,” Mr Prior says.
“We have really been consulting widely with the DV sector… We need as many social services around domestic and family violence so that victims and perpetrators can get the support they need.”
