DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS — SUPPORT DOG
CONTRACT
35. Hon NICK GOIRAN to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Attorney General:
I refer to the Office of the
Director of Public Prosecutions' contract for the provision of a support
dog at the cost of $162 000.
(1) When was the
Attorney General first made aware of this decision?
(2) What expert
advice did the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions receive to
validate that a support dog is the best way of dealing with staff stress?
(3) Will the
Attorney General table this advice?
(4) How many other support dog contracts exist within
the departments and agencies for which the Attorney General is
responsible?
Hon
MATTHEW SWINBOURN replied:
I thank the
member for some notice of the question.
(1) The Attorney General first became aware of the
decision on 21 April 2021 when WAtoday contacted his office to ask for a
comment on a tender for the provision of support dog services, published on the
Tenders WA website.
(2)–(3) The Director of Public Prosecutions has advised
that her office has done significant research into the various methods of
dealing with workplace stress and vicarious trauma suffered by its staff. One
study the ODPP considered is detailed in ''Dogs in the Workplace: A
Review of the Benefits and Potential Challenges'' published in the International
Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. I table that study.
Section
3.1 of the study considered social support and stress reduction provided by
dogs in the workplace, while section 4.4 considers the potential for dog bites
in the workplace. This and other considerations contributed to the ODPP
trialling the use of a specially trained support dog rather than permitting
employees to bring their own dogs to work. In addition, a number of ODPPs
across Australia have used assistance dogs in courts and to support victims and
witnesses for some years. They include the New South Wales government's
canine court companion program operating at 10 courts, the Victorian government's
court dog program utilising two full-time dogs, and the South Australian
government's legislative amendments last year to permit a support dog
that had been offering support to witnesses during meetings with its ODPP to be
permitted to support people giving evidence in court. Further, the Royal
Commission into Institutional Responses
to Child Sexual Abuse was satisfied of the potential for support animals to
reduce trauma associated with child
sexual abuse prosecutions, with recommendation 61(b) of the Criminal justice
report providing that complainants, vulnerable witnesses and other
prosecution witnesses should be allowed to be supported when giving evidence
through the presence of a support animal should the prosecution consider it
necessary.
[See paper 158.]
(4) There are no
other contracts. For clarity, the ODPP support dog program is a three-month
trial at this stage, with a total estimated cost of $13 500 for the three
months across the ODPP's 300-plus staff.