A women's group in Tasmania is calling for a specialised family violence court so the law may more adequately address the needs of victim survivors.
In its submission on non-fatal strangulation laws for the Criminal Code Amendment Bill 2022 Women's Health Tasmania said that a specialist family violence court, like those rolling out in Victoria, should become a priority for the state.
"However, it must be adequately resourced. A specialist family violence court means that cases involving non fatal strangulation can be heard in ways that are timely, place victim-survivor safety at their core, and provide adequate, trauma aware support," it said.
The organisation also had concerns around the definition of non-fatal strangulation, stating that a clear, broad definition ensures that its use as a tactic of family violence is properly appreciated.
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It said the definition should include the placement of hands on the throat where pressure is applied but does not restrict breathing.
"Further, women do not always use the word 'strangle' to talk about NFS. They may instead describe "pushing on the neck", "grabbing by the neck" or being "held around the throat"," it said.
"A clear definition of NFS, that is broad enough to include the many ways in which a perpetrator may use NFS and how it might be experienced or named by a victim, equips the justice system to understand NFS on the continuum of tactics employed by perpetrators of family violence."
Women's Legal Service of Tasmania chief executive Yvette Cehtel said the service, with the support of Laurel House, fully supported the introduction of the standalone law for non-fatal strangulation.
She said current law did not adequately capture the seriousness of strangulations, and that a new law would send a really strong cultural message that strangling or choking someone is not okay.
"This was an emerging area of preferred abuse by perpetrators that wanted to avoid detection because it doesn't necessarily leave physical marks immediately," she said.
"The law will send a really strong message and hopefully pick up some of these perpetrators before they manage to kill somebody."
Engender Equality chief executive Alina Thomas said they were optimistic about seeing the draft bill become law and only had a few suggestions in their latest submission, which included slight changes to the definition of non-fatal strangulation.
She said education would be an important part of the new law.
"Echoed in all of the submissions is that this will only be as effective as the education and awareness raising that goes along with it, that is critical," Ms Thomas said.
"All the affiliated training and support processes will need to come alongside of it so that our judiciary, our court systems, understand what the changes are and how victim survivors need to be supported to access this new opportunity for justice."
