Submission to the Domestic and Family Violence Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
QNADA recently made a submission to the Domestic and Family Violence Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. We are supportive of proactive, evidence-based reforms which strengthen supports and provide immediate protections for victim survivors of domestic and family violence and we urged the committee to consider the potential impact of AOD use and harms in the context of coercive control and domestic and family violence.
Our submission highlights the intersection of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use with domestic, family, and sexual violence. Informed by member consultation and research, it stresses that while AOD use and DFV often co-occur, there is no direct causal relationship between AOD use and violence perpetration.
We further draw attention to the ways stigma and discrimination impact women and girls who use substances and are engaged with the criminal justice system. In particular, for victim/survivors it may result in a reluctance to report offences because of previous negative experiences with the criminal justice system and/or a fear of harmful consequences (particularly for those who use illicit drugs). Where victim/survivors who use substances do report, they are also more likely to encounter (real or perceived) issues with respect to the credibility of their statements which may impede the investigation or successful prosecution of offences.
You can read the full submission here