Senator Gold: Senator Simons, you’ve said on a couple of occasions that you object if it’s the only brush with the law. There’s evidence both before the committee and more generally that very often intimate partner violence does not get reported. Complaints are withdrawn, and charges may or may not be laid.

How do you square your phrase with the fact that it is clear that women are often victims of violence for protracted periods of time before the law gets involved and that the risk increases once charges are laid?