Western Australia is on track for its worst year of domestic violence offences as new data shows restraining orders are being breached every 44 minutes.
Family and domestic violence offences have had the highest jump of the last decade, according to police data.
Over the past five years, it has increased by 56 per cent.
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Gosnells Community Legal Centre chief executive Sarah Patterson said she was not surprised, saying it was the same story at legal centres across the state.
”Over the past 12 months we have gone from being duty lawyers at the court one day a week to now having two lawyers at the court five days a week,” she said.
“It’s a 10-fold increase.”
Violence restraining orders are meant to keep families safe but they’re being breached every 44 minutes.
“The thing about breaches is they can be very minor,” Police Minister Paul Papalia said.
Two months ago, the state government passed legislation forcing thugs to wear GPS trackers.
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But they’re still roaming free.
“You’ve got to be able to not just pass the law to compel people to be fitted with these things,” Papalia said.
“You’ve got to make sure you’ve actually go the capacity.”
“I would hate there to be an incident where a death or another serious assault would have been prevented if these measures were in place now,” shadow justice spokesperson Tjorn Sibma said.
This year is set to be the worst for family and domestic violence offences in Western Australia’s history and on track to pass 40,000 crimes committed.
The sector said it was still severely lacking funding.
“I hate to say that the answer is more funding, I really do,” Patterson said.
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