Although Australia has a strong reputation for making progressive laws around gun control, seat belts, smoking and bicycle helmets, we have "lacked innovation" in protecting victims of family and intimate partner violence, Professor Catherine Humphreys of The University of Melbourne, said.

The prospect of a far-reaching public campaign was agreed to by Friday's four-person panel in the morning, with Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education chief executive, Michael Thorn, comparing it with how drink-driving was tackled two decades ago.

Mr Thorn said although the public was initially very resistant to the idea of not drinking and driving, he said the multitude of campaigns over the years had help change people's attitudes.

"I think the same kind of rules, the same pattern is likely to occur if you are dealing with family violence."

However, any campaign would need to be matched by stronger laws, Associate Professor Peter Miller, added.

"The government sends a clear message with strong laws, you back it up with public education, not the occasional Saturday afternoon on telly, but strong advertising that shocks people, that makes them aware of what's happening and changes the message," he said.

"We don't let people who are drunk off for drunk driving and I don't think we can accept that it's an excuse in any format in any way."

The fifth day of the commission heard from 10 experts about the link between alcohol, drugs and family violence.

Associate Professor Miller said various programs that reduced availability or increased price of alcohol had produced promising results and were worth investigating for Victoria.

He mentioned a British Columbia program that increased the price of alcohol by 10 per cent resulted in a reduction of family violence by 10.4 per cent. Another program, in Australia, which reduced access to packaged liquor, resulted in a 23 per cent reduction in the number of women turning up to emergency shelters.

However, Professor Humphreys said it was important to remember that significant amounts of violence occurred without the influence of drugs and alcohol.

"When you look at the gamut of behaviours, there's a lot that's very calculated."

Combining family violence and support for drugs and alcohol would assist support workers in the often overlapping areas ensure no one was being lost in the system, Mr Thorn said.

"Our simple proposition is if we adopt a kind of no wrong doors approach that we ask our services to be aware of the possibilities of family violence if you are an AOD [alcohol and other drugs] service or equally if you are a family violence service that there is an alcohol or drug problem that we can get better results," he said.

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