A plan to track domestic violence offenders will be considered by federal and state leaders at a national cabinet meeting today that will also canvass stricter bail laws. Source: The Age.
Violent offenders will be tracked with electronic devices to alert police to their location and protect women from potential attacks under a South Australian scheme that came into force last night.
The scheme will be on the agenda at a national cabinet meeting to decide new measures to curb male violence and will also canvass stricter bail laws and greater funding for support services for women and children.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has warned about the way boys and men are gaining access to violent and misogynistic content online, raising the prospect of new measures amid a growing debate about stricter age tests for young people on social media apps.
In November, the federal Government said the age verification systems were “immature” and carried significant risks that could make it hard to put them in place, but this week it said it was working on a pilot scheme for an age-assurance mechanism that could be applied to online porn.
Mr Albanese will hold a virtual meeting with premiers and chief ministers this morning to consider a federal discussion paper on new measures as well as a paper from SA Premier Peter Malinauskas on state action to protect women.
Domestic, family and sexual violence commissioner Micaela Cronin, who will address the leaders, said the national plan on violence against women needed to be constantly reviewed and adapted.
Coalition communications spokesman David Coleman has been calling for several months for the Albanese Government to impose age verification rules on digital platforms.
Crossbench MPs backed policy experts who called on Monday for Mr Albanese to target violent online porn, misogynistic social media influencers and problem gambling in his next responses to the widespread violence against women.
More immediately, the independent MPs requested a sentencing review that would create more accountability for perpetrators in the justice system, as well as government-funded independent legal representation for women.
FULL STORY
Leaders weigh plan to track domestic violence offenders (By David Crowe and Natassia Chrysanthos, The Age)
