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More than 60 per cent of family and domestic violence incidents reviewed by the West Australian Ombudsman posed a high risk of serious harm, yet only 2.5 per cent were escalated for coordinated multi-agency intervention, according to a new damning report.
The WA Ombudsman tabled the document – A Review of Family and Domestic Violence in WA – in parliament on Thursday morning.
It contained information on 388 families’ interactions with the WA Police Force and the Department of Communities and draws on 237 fatality review investigations conducted since 2012.
The report examined how government agencies respond after police attend family and domestic violence incidents, and found that processes to identify high-risk cases and respond appropriately were not always followed.
WA Ombudsman Bevan Warner highlighted significant gaps in how agencies coordinated their response to the issue.
“More people than ever are coming forward in need of protection and response teams are operating in a challenging and high-demand environment,” he said.
Key findings include:
- 24 per cent of required risk questions were recorded as unstated or unknown, by police.
- 61 per cent of cases reviewed met the threshold for high risk of serious harm, but only 2.5 per cent were escalated for extra support and coordinated multi-agency case management.
- Children were present in 40 per cent of incidents but many received no individualised support.
- Perpetrator accountability is still lacking with one perpetrator involved in 81 incidents.
“This makes following settled procedures for assessing and acting on risk even more important.
“We have a system that is not working to support victims as well as it should.
“A key finding of this review is that the Department of Communities and WA Police must be united and working from the same script when assessing risk.”
The report’s review of fatalities also found that many of the warning signs were known “before a death occurs”.
“Each death represents a devastating loss for families and communities. The responsibility of government agencies is to learn everything possible from those tragedies, so they are less likely to occur again,” Warner said.
The findings come after new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed nearly 12,000 offenders were proceeded against for a family and domestic violence-related offence in WA in 2024-25 – an increase of 20 per cent from the previous year.
That was the biggest increase out of any state or territory – a rate of 448 offenders per 100,000 people.
Over half were charged with acts intended to cause injury.
Nearly 80 per cent of all offenders were men.
Just this week there have been several high-profile cases of domestic violence in WA courts.
Cameron Pearson was jailed for life on Tuesday over the brutal murder of his partner, Perth lawyer Alice McShera, in a Crown Towers hotel room in 2023.
On Wednesday, Tobias Nuttall – an occult and conspiracy theory podcaster – pleaded guilty to murdering his girlfriend at her home in the riverside Perth suburb of Bassendean last year.
Also on Wednesday, Mihael Vrhovsek, who stalked and harassed an ex-girlfriend for months before trying to kill her was found guilty of attempted murder.
And last week, this masthead revealed that a Perth mother was forced to flee the country after her abuser was granted bail.
Greens MP Jess Beckerling said it was “absolutely devastating to see such a significant rise” and called out the state government for not treating the issue as a priority.
“I don’t want to hear any excuses from this government, any efforts to avoid or minimise what’s happening here,” she said.
“Yes, there’s been an increase in reporting. Yes, there’s been an increase in women feeling safe to come forward, but also there’s been an increase in the amount of violence that women and children are suffering in this state.”
WA Police Minister Reece Whitby said that behind every number was a woman with an “often a horrendous story”, and that “we should be encouraging women to come forward”.
“They’re doing so in a way that they haven’t always done in the past,” he said.
“This is not something you can keep behind closed doors. This is not something which is acceptable. This is not the 1970s, we need to put the spotlight on this issue.”
Beckerling also said while she wasn’t convinced jailing people was the answer to solving the crisis, “if there are any people who should be remanded on bail, it’s the ones that we know are likely to go out and potentially murder or rape women”.
Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Minister Jessica Stojkovski said changes in legislation had resulted in more perpetrators behind bars.
“These numbers today confirm for me that the work that we have been doing to reform the system is working. These numbers are a response to the system reform to hold perpetrators to account,” she said.
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Holly Thompson is a journalist with WAtoday, specialising in education and the environment.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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