Australian Human Rights Commission Report title October 2022 vaccination rates and limited access to testing, despite prisons being particularly susceptible to COVID-19 outbreaks.141 106. The Commission also notes that there were severe public health restrictions in the criminal justice system, including at times where the general population had regained most of its freedoms. It is unclear whether this was necessary or proportionate. For instance, in Victoria, as of March 2021, anyone entering the justice system had to complete a 14-day quarantine in complete isolation.142 107. The expanding use of post-sentence preventive detention regimes in Australia is also of concern to the Commission. Such laws have previously been primarily focused on narrow categories of offending, specifically terrorist offenders143 and high-risk sexual offenders.144 The reach of these laws has gradually expanded in a number of jurisdictions to encompass a broader range of offending behaviour.145 One example is in Western Australia where reforms introduced in 2020 allow for a ‘continuing detention order‘ to be made with respect to ‘high-risk serious offenders’, which is defined to potentially encompass individuals convicted of a broad range of criminal offences, including robbery, grievous bodily harm, and criminal damage by fire.146 This expanded use of post-sentence preventive detention regimes raises serious concerns about indefinite and arbitrary detention, and disproportionately impacts First Nations peoples. Recommendation 23: Governments take steps to reduce the number of people on remand, including by amending overly harsh bail laws. Recommendation 24: Governments review the use of post-sentence preventive detention regimes throughout Australia to ensure compliance with international human rights obligations. 6 Violence against women and children Relevant provisions of the CAT: Articles 2, 9, 12, 13, 14 and 16. 6.1 Rates of violence and sexual harassment 108. Domestic and family violence against women remains endemic in Australia.147 The intersection of gender with other forms of inequality results in women with disability and from Indigenous, LGBTIQ+, and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds experiencing higher rates of violence, and additional barriers to support.148 The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and ANROWS report that: 25