Dr. Sharon Lambert:

I will pick up on a few points the Senator raised. She mentioned people acting irrationally. Actually, it is not irrational; it is rational. The very basic thing here is about understanding the impact of stress and trauma on feelings, thinking and behaviour. On the outside it can look like it is very irrational behaviour and it can be very uncomfortable to watch, very unpleasant and sometimes scary. However, for the individual and for their brain, this is a completely rational response to a perceived threat. I am going to have to explain that.

When we are faced with any kind of threat or risk, our brain does exactly what it is supposed to do: it activates the fight or flight response system. If that system did not work, we would be in danger every time we get out of bed in the morning because we would get hurt. Unfortunately, for some people, depending on their individual experiences or the community they live in, their brain can be permanently set on fight or flight and so it is constantly scanning the environment. The brain is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing in saying there is danger and the person must react.

Regarding policies to respond to that, nobody when they are in that state when the fight or flight response system is activated can think properly because they are not getting enough blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, which is the thinking brain. Nobody in that moment thinks about the laws of the state and the consequences because the part of the brain that requires planning ahead and understanding consequences has gone offline. The Senator referred to America as an example. America has really harsh penalties but these have had no impact on levels of crime. It is because in that moment when somebody's brain is not working as well as it ought to be, it does not work as a deterrent.

Everybody wants less victimisation. When we say that there has been an increase in violent offending in a particular area or something and we talk about harsher penalties, the problem is that will not prevent victimisation. If we want to stop victimisation, we need to get in at prevention stage. This can be done through investment in children and families and in communities and education.

The Senator mentioned Scotland as an example when it comes to public health responses. Other areas of the UK have adopted trauma-aware policing and trauma-aware responses to violence.

I went to a presentation by a superintendent - it has left my mind where it was - and what he and his fellow officers noticed was that they were dealing with the same people over and over again. They could almost predict which children would be with them in four to five years. The problems were intergenerational trauma, poverty and exclusion from education. That policing unit started to collaborate with the health service, education and other community-based organisations to get in further in order that they could do what everybody wants to do, which is to prevent victimisation.