The federal government will roll out a $20 million program to electronically monitor high-risk family violence perpetrators, based on the successes of a similar program in Tasmania.
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The government recently announced a $150 million investment into family violence prevention, which included funding for states and territories to trial electronic monitoring of offenders.
As well as $20 million for electronic monitoring, $54.6 million will be dedicated towards security assessments and upgrades to victim-survivors' homes, including cameras, bug sweeps and safe phones.
Women's Minister Marise Payne said the model would be based on Tasmania's award-winning Project Vigilance.
Over the weekend, Attorney-General Elise Archer said the program was part of the government's introduction of alternative sentencing options for serious offenders.
She said almost 200 people were being monitored across the state, including offenders on home detention orders, parolees, family violence offenders, and victim-survivors for their own safety.
Ms Archer said the program has a unit of 29 staff operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"It has seen its scope of work expand significantly during its time in operation and allows us to keep victim-survivors and the community safe by ensuring offenders' movements are tracked and stay within the parameters of any court-ordered conditions," she said.
The Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies last year released its evaluation of Project Vigilance.
"The evaluation of Project Vigilance has demonstrated promising progress towards achieving the project's outcomes in the short term," it concluded.
"Regular feedback from a larger number of perpetrators and victims will enable a more robust analysis of outcomes over the long term."
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It wrote that from an analysis of a sample of 25 offenders, there had been 32 family violence reports received for 12 program participants after their electronic monitoring bracelets had been removed.
"In the previous 12 months, these same offenders had generated 81 reports," the report said.
"The most common type of violence committed post-trial was breach of an order."
From interviews with perpetrators, the institute found that some had realised the seriousness of their behaviour through new insight and had taken the opportunity to address the issue.
It recommended there be increased support services for offenders as existing services were fully subscribed.
The institute recommended that electronic monitoring of offenders be continued and that the program be expanded to medium-risk offenders.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
