Social Justice Report 2003: SUMMARY SHEET SEVEN: ADDRESSING FAMILY VIOLENCE IN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Media Pack:
SUMMARY SHEET SEVEN: ADDRESSING FAMILY VIOLENCE IN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
There is no issue currently causing more destruction to the fabric of Indigenous communities than family violence. This has been acknowledged by all levels of government in recent years, with a number of significant inquiries and initiatives undertaken or commenced at the federal, state and territory level to address its impact.
Recent initiatives such as the Prime Minister's family violence roundtable in July 2003 and subsequent commitment of $20 million as a 'down payment' to address family violence issues, the response of the Western Australian government to the Gordon Inquiry's findings, and the focus on family violence issues in several of the COAG whole-of-government community trials, demonstrate a genuine commitment from governments to address family violence issues.
Indigenous concepts of violence are much broader than usual mainstream definitions of domestic violence. Many current approaches to family violence derive from a model of 'domestic violence' - violence against women, underpinned by western models of female oppression. These do not 'fit' Indigenous experience. The identity of many Indigenous women is bound to their experience as Indigenous people. Rather than sharing a common experience of sexism binding them with non-Indigenous women, this may bind them more to their community, including the men of the community. Indigenous people may also have a negative perception of police and welfare authorities.
An emphasis on criminal justice responses to family violence poses two main concerns for Indigenous women. The first is that the system is generally ineffective in addressing the behaviour of the perpetrator in the longer term. The effect of imprisonment is to remove them from the community and then, without any focus on rehabilitation or addressing the circumstances that led to the offending in the first place, to simply return them to the same environment. The second is that there are a range of barriers in the accessibility and cultural appropriateness of legal processes which discourage Indigenous women from using the criminal justice system in the first place.
There are significant deficiencies in the availability of statistics and research on the extent and nature of family violence in communities. An overview of recent statistics and research into the extent and nature of Indigenous family violence is provided in the report (pp161-168). What data exists suggests that Indigenous people suffer violence, including family violence, at significantly higher rates than other Australians do. This situation has existed for at least the past two decades with no identifiable improvement.
Addressing family violence is a shared responsibility between all levels of government with prime responsibility resting with health and community service agencies in federal, state and territory governments.
There are a patchwork of programs and approaches to addressing family violence in Indigenous communities among federal, state and territory governments, but there remains a lack of coordination and consistency in approaches to addressing these issues between governments and among different government agencies.
Three recurring strategic aspects need to be present to address family violence in Indigenous communities, namely that programs be community-driven; that community agencies establish partnerships with each other and with relevant government agencies; and that composite violence programs are able to provide a more holistic approach to community violence (pp 183 - 184). Review of existing approaches identifies a critical need to adopt an holistic approach to the problem of family violence and identifies the crucial importance of engagement with Commonwealth and State government agencies and communities to work in partnership on family violence strategies, as well as supporting and strengthening the capacity of ATSIC Regional Councils to develop, implement and monitor family violence action plans.
Overall, the report concludes: '[The] commitments and recent initiatives by all governments ...are welcome and long overdue. As yet, they are not sufficiently wide-ranging in their scope or effectively funded. There are also significant gaps in service provision, including through a general paucity of programs and lack of legal assistance to Indigenous women in many areas. As a consequence, there remains a need for ongoing, continuous support for innovative, community led solutions to address family violence and the adoption of an holistic, coordinated approach by governments. ATSIC's Family Violence Plan provides a platform for improving this situation, with the development of regionally targeted programs and action plans. The escalating and debilitating affects of family violence on Indigenous people and communities requires urgent attention' (p191).