• Reforms to compel courts and the Prisoners Review Board (PRB) to impose Global Positioning Systems (GPS) monitoring conditions on family violence perpetrators
• Mandatory tracking will apply under any community supervision order imposed at bail, sentencing, parole and post-sentence
• Mandatory imprisonment will apply to offenders who remove their monitoring equipment

The Cook Government will introduce legislation which will compel courts and the PRB to impose GPS monitoring conditions on family violence perpetrators subject to community supervision.

The decision to strengthen monitoring requirements comes after the Government's evaluation of the two-year Family and Domestic Violence (FDV) GPS Tracking Trial revealed that an average of 10 FDV offenders have GPS monitoring imposed each month.

Currently, discretionary GPS monitoring can be imposed by the court or PRB on any offender - family violence or otherwise - under certain particular supervision orders at bail, sentencing, parole or post-sentence.

Under the reforms, mandatory monitoring will apply to family violence perpetrators who have offended while subject to a family violence restraining order or serial family violence offender declaration. Monitoring will be required under any community supervision order imposed in relation to these offenders at bail, sentencing, parole and post-sentence.

Mandatory monitoring will also apply to family violence perpetrators released from prison under parole or post-sentence order where a family violence restraining order is in place.

Offences captured include violent offences, sexual offences, threats, and non-violent offences that commonly occur in circumstances of family violence such as stalking.

The penalty for removing monitoring equipment will be increased, and will include a mandatory minimum term of six months imprisonment, to reflect the seriousness of this offence.

Comments attributed to Premier Roger Cook:

"The expansion of the GPS monitoring system was a Labor election commitment, and we delivered on that commitment by launching a two-year trial, and allocating significant funding for its implementation.

"As any responsible Government should, we waited for the evaluation of that trial and carefully considered the preliminary findings and what improvements we could make to it.

"We have responded swiftly by ensuring that even more offenders are subject to GPS monitoring, further strengthening this Government's response to stemming domestic violence in our community."

Comments attributed to Attorney General John Quigley:

"GPS monitoring is a valuable tool we have introduced across the criminal justice system, along with other measures to address family and domestic violence.

"We've introduced the criminal offence of suffocation and strangulation, persistent family violence offences, aggravated penalties for offences involving family violence where there are criminal damage threats or deprivation of liberties, and serious family violence offender declarations.

"These latest reforms reaffirm this Government's strong stance against family violence. They will ensure that the law protects the most vulnerable in our community and that Western Australia remains at the forefront of the campaign against family violence in this country."

Comments attributed to Police Minister Paul Papalia:

"It was a Labor Government back in 2003 that first introduced legislation enabling the electronic monitoring of offenders on parole. 

"In 2018, we launched the State Operations Command Centre (SOCC), co-locating police and corrective services personnel to enhance policing and real-time monitoring of offenders subject to GPS tracking.

"We expanded this even further in 2020 to enable the GPS monitoring of criminals, including family and domestic violence perpetrators, at both bail and sentencing.

"Adult Community Corrections and the WA Police Force at the SOCC stand ready to monitor and respond to offenders subject to GPS tracking.

"Any breach of their restricted movements generates an immediate alert allowing for a swift and appropriate response from police."

Comments attributed to Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Minister Sabine Winton:

"The Cook Government takes family and domestic violence extremely seriously, which is why we have invested more than $200 million since coming into office in 2017.  

"Expanding GPS monitoring is yet another example of our commitment to stopping the cycle of violence and holding family and domestic violence perpetrators to account.

"Today's reforms further demonstrate our commitment to increasing the safety of victim-survivors of family and domestic violence."