[S]pending on domestic violence focussed services, which appear to have received a tiny $18.2 million, as part of a broader $54.4 million package. That full package is still a small amount when you consider the vast range of things it aims to take on, including elder abuse and cybersafety.
Spending on foreign aid has also taken a hit, cut by $140 million in real terms, or ‘frozen’ at $4 billion a year.
But the controversial school chaplaincy program? That will receive $250 million over four years.
I’ll remind you again of that Domestic Violence figure: $18.2 million.
Still, women didn’t rate a mention in the Treasurer’s budget speech.
But then again neither did ‘climate change’ or ‘foreign aid’ or ‘domestic violence’.
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/from-a-dangerous-lack-of-dv-spending-to-foreign-aid-cuts-little-for-women-this-budget-bites/
https://womensagenda.com.au/business/32654/
Category: Domestic Violence
George Brandis says 'overdue' review of family law system not Pauline Hanson's idea
Attorney-General George Brandis has criticised One Nation leader Pauline Hanson for trying to take credit for a family law review, saying the Turnbull government had been planning the examination of the much-criticised system for years.
Senator Brandis said the review was “necessary and long overdue” because “Australian families and their needs have significantly evolved since the 1970s” when the Family Law Act came into operation.
A coalition of groups says a royal commission is the only mechanism to adequately address the problems with the family law system.
Some of the groups that called for a royal commission include child protection organisation Bravehearts, Lone Fathers, the National Council for Single Mothers and Children, and the Luke Batty Foundation.
The president of the Law Council of Australia, Fiona McLeod, welcomed the review and said it was vital a lack of resources for the courts and legal aid was addressed.
Ms McLeod called for an immediate funding injection to help the legal system deal with its staggering case load.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/george-brandis-says-overdue-review-of-family-law-system-not-pauline-hansons-idea-20170928-gyqb7c.html
Domestic violence program failing to protect women
A signature NSW government program to reduce domestic violence rates is failing to protect women from further harm, a new report reveals, casting doubt over the Premier’s target of reducing reoffending by 25 per cent by 2021.
The Safer Pathway program, a key feature of state government’s 2014 domestic violence reforms, “has only had a limited effect on the incidence of domestic violence”, according to two reports released today by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR).
It is the third government-led domestic violence initiative to be found ineffective by BOCSAR in recent months.
Under the Safer Pathway program, police are required to assess all victims who report domestic violence using a questionnaire known as the Domestic Violence Safety Assessment Tool.
BOCSAR tracked more than 24,000 cases of domestic violence between January 1, 2016, and June 30, 2016, and found that the questionnaire was a “very poor instrument for measuring the risk of repeat domestic violence victimisation, often performing little better than chance”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/domestic-violence-scheme-failing-to-protect-women-20180502-p4zcx9.html
Why Family Violence Leave Should Be Paid
[F]inancial hardship can bind women to abusive relationships. As such, the economic backing that ongoing employment supplies can be a critical factor in supporting women to leave abusive relationships. Continued employment can also serve to psychologically bolster victims.
Providing paid family violence leave means we’re not asking victims to choose between foregoing necessary support for the sake of financial security.
By failing to provide family violence leave we risk re-entrenching existing forms of disadvantage and failing to address a potential contributing factor to the persistent gender pay gap in this country.
https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2018/03/family-violence-leave-paid/?
WLS stair climb fundraiser organised for DV victims
‘River to Rooftop’, being held on Friday, 20 June, will see a number of corporate teams take on the 1,040 steps to the rooftop of ONE ONE ONE Eagle Street in support of the Women’s Legal Service Queensland (WLSQ).
In a statement, WLSQ said that financial support was needed.
“This year, the service has experienced unprecedented demand for their free legal and social work help for domestic violence victims and their children,” the service said.
“Currently, the service is only able to respond to 39 per cent of calls for help.”
https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/biglaw/22918-wls-stair-climb-fundraiser-organised-for-dv-victims?
'Saving the children' are the three most dangerous words uttered by white people
The story was splashed across the front page in three bold lines: “Save our children.” It relied on quotes from the federal assistant minister for children and families, David Gillespie, who said now was the time to place Aboriginal children with white families.
“Foster care is not ideal but there is a reluctance to put them in a more permanent situation for fear of creating another stolen generation,’’ Gillespie said in the paper.
[T]he idea that Aboriginal children are not being placed in white families is a lie. The kinship and Aboriginal child placement principles in many states and territories recognise the need for Aboriginal children to be kept in communities, or in extended families. But often, in practice this principle has fallen far short of its aims.
There was also the issue of child protection agencies not consulting with families about child placements, and children, even those placed in kinship care, being separated from their respective communities and cultures.
In Victoria, as reported by the Guardian’s Calla Wahlquist, a third of First Nations children are placed with Aboriginal kin, and 41.6% are placed with non-Indigenous carers.
The greater lie is that Aboriginal children are not being taken away and are being kept in dangerous situations for fear of a stolen generation. That does not gel with the statistics: Aboriginal children are being taken away at exponential rates and these rates have grown every year since Kevin Rudd gave his apology to the stolen generations and promised it would “never happen again”.
While non-Indigenous children are more likely to be taken away for physical and emotional abuse, Aboriginal children are largely taken away because of “neglect”, which is often seen as a subjective term based on cultural interpretation.
[O]f course there are some children who need to be taken away. But there should be a concerted effort to place children with families – with aunties, uncles or grandparents and, if not, other members of the community. And there should be a concerted effort to support Aboriginal mothers and fathers so they can raise their children in a safe and loving environment.
If children are taken away from their families they are placed in the care of the minister. Shouldn’t there be accountability? How can we be assured that they are not placed in more danger than what they were in, given the state of the child protection system?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/14/saving-the-children-are-the-three-most-dangerous-words-uttered-by-white-people?
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/nationals-mp-advocates-adoptions-for-child-abuse-victims-including-indigenous-kids
What you need to know about domestic violence in Australia: It is a crisis
Family, domestic and sexual violence is a crisis in Australia that is not abating.
A landmark study conducted by the government’s Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) confirms DV remains a major health and welfare issue that predominantly affects women and children.
The study found that family violence is a leading cause of homelessness, that the problem has grown in the past five years and that millions of children have been physically or sexually abused.
Who is most at risk?
Women. Men are more likely to experience violence from strangers and in a public place, but women are most likely to know the perpetrator (often their current or a previous partner) and the violence usually takes place in their home.
Indigenous women, young women, pregnant women, women separating from their partners, women with disability and women experiencing financial hardship are at the greatest risk of experiencing domestic violence.
Women and men who experienced abuse or witnessed domestic violence as children are also at an increased risk.
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/domestic-violence-in-australia-a-crisis-that-affects-one-in-six-women/
Taking a trauma-informed approach to DV support
“The DVU has the aim of triaging clients to receive appropriate types and intensity of service according to their specific needs and capability,” the report said.
Legal Aid operates a total of 12 special units across the state, working other legal and human services to provide accessible services to people experiencing DFV.
This week an evaluation report of the program was published by the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW. The findings of the report indicated a quarter of clients who had been supported by the DVU received multiple types of services, which included assistance of a non-legal nature.
However, the evaluation also reflected stakeholder feedback that expressed concern about the capacity for the under-resourced DVU to meet the demand for services. The report recommended that expansion of the unit was a key matter to negotiate for the future.
Among those that accessed Legal Aid NSW’s DVU program were disadvantaged people, predominantly women, who were experiencing DFV. Over 69 per cent of DVU clients had dependants, with more than half speaking a main language other than English. The report also showed that two-thirds of clients were not employed and over 63 per cent were recipients of government benefits.
“The DVU was also seen as filling gaps in social work support and assistance to people experiencing DFV, often complementing the court support roles of the Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Services (WDVCASs),” the report said.
https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/biglaw/22816-taking-a-trauma-informed-approach-to-dv-support?
Calls to scrap proposed family law measure
A parliamentary hearing has heard that the proposed Parenting Management Hearings should be abolished, with funds to be re-invested to reduce “unacceptable” waiting times in the family and federal courts.
Mr Bailes added that the $12.7 million to establish and operate the panel could achieve a far better outcome for children and parents involved in family law disputes by instead “allocating the funding to improve resourcing of the existing court system, as well as counselling and support services, such as contact centres”.
“If the aim of the proposal is to respond more quickly to the needs of unrepresented litigants with less complex disputes, then both courts would be in a position to respond appropriately to those needs by, for instance, funding for the recruitment of registrars.”
https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/wig-chamber/22803-calls-to-scrap-proposed-family-law-measure?
Giving women guns wouldn’t prevent rape: it would land women in jail
Women are much more likely to be fatally hurt by a gun than saved by one. Women who live in abusive situations are considered at grave risk when a gun is in the home – no matter who owns it – and women killed by their partners are more likely to be murdered with a gun than all other weapons combined.
In addition to the overwhelming research that shows guns are more likely to kill than protect women, it’s also fairly clear what would happen if women did arm themselves against rapists and abusers. Over the last few months, we’ve seen the way women are treated when they dared to simply out the men who hurt them – does anyone really believe women shooting them would somehow go over better?
Somehow I don’t have faith that a court system that continually fails and blames rape victims would be very kind to women who kill their attackers. In fact, women who have tried to protect themselves from sexual or domestic violence haven’t been lauded as second-amendment heroes – they’ve been arrested.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/23/dana-loesch-women-gun-reform-rapists?
