Some of the recommendations made by the coroner Ian Gray, following his investigation into the death of Luke Batty, may be unfeasible and have an adverse effect on response times, Victoria police say.
Batty was killed by his father, Greg Anderson, after being hit with a cricket bat and stabbed on a field in Tyabb, Victoria, in 2014. There had been multiple warrants out for Anderson’s arrest at the time, as well as an intervention order in place limiting his access to Luke.
Gray handed down his findings into Luke’s death in September, which included 29 recommendations for the government, its agencies including Victoria police, family violence service providers and the courts. While a coroner’s recommendations are not binding, they are expected to prevent deaths occurring in similar circumstances if implemented.
On Wednesday, the coroner’s court published the Victorian government and police responses to Gray’s recommendations. The government said it was already implementing or planning to implement all the suggestions.
But Victoria police questioned whether they would have the resources to implement some of the recommendations, and said they were still considering their position on some proposals.
Gray recommended that when the police filled out a risk assessment form, known as an L17, for family violence perpetrators to determine their likelihood of committing future harm, they should check whether other L17s had previously been filed on the same perpetrator, and review them to make a thorough risk assessment.
But the police said this was unfeasible and risked “adversely impacting response time and capacity”.
“As an alternative to requiring police officers to contact previous authors of L17s, Victoria police will investigate whether improvements can be made to the quality and depth of information recorded in L17s,” the response said.
The coroner also recommended that police prosecutors appearing before remand and bail applications in court for a family violence perpetrator had all L17 forms on that person in front of them. This would help determine whether to oppose a bail application.
While the police said they were considering the recommendation, they believed the process would be “labour intensive and “not always practicable in efficiently informing a position on bail”.
They said they would also consider sending the same police prosecutors to all hearings involving the same perpetrator as recommended by the coroner.
Liana Buchanan, the executive officer for the Federation of Community Legal Centres, which represents 49 centres throughout the state, said she found the police response disappointing.
“We’re disappointed that the Victoria police response is not as strong as the Victorian government’s response,” Buchanan said.
“If we look at the recommendations made specifically to police, around half are still under consideration or police are saying they are not viable. There’s not enough in their responses to say how they are going to then fix the problems identified by the coroner.
“They should be clear about what they will commit to, now it’s almost two years after Luke’s death and three months after the findings were handed down.”
