After a short break due to staff leave, our round-up is back! Last week, the NSW government introduced its domestic violence disclosure scheme, allowing people at risk of violence to find out whether their partner has a history of violent crime offences. In addition, third parties such as friends, family members and social workers can also seek information on behalf of the person at risk. For a more thorough outline of how the scheme will work in practice, read this article.
Around the country
- A recent audit of work done by Legal Aid found that domestic violence accounted for 79 per cent of legal aid family law matters.
- Alison and Jillian Barrett from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers have written about the legal options that victims of domestic violence have.
- Annika Blau has written a thoughtful piece for Women’s Agenda on the problems of victim blamingfollowing last Monday night’s Q&A, where an audience member insinuated that victims of abuse must be held accountable. For commentary of the Q&A discussion on family and domestic violence, read Anne Summers’ article on Daily Life here.
- Celeste Liddle has written about Indigenous women’s reproductive rights and why the government needs to make this a priority.
- ABC Fact Check has analysed statistics and data on family and domestic violence in Australia, reaffirming that family and domestic violence is gendered and that women are disproportionately the victims of such violence.
- Chair of Our Watch, Natasha Scott Despoja, has written about the need for responsible domestic violence reporting.
- In Victoria, the government has allocated $572 million to implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Family Violence.
- In NSW, a survey conducted by Yfoundations, the peak body for youth homelessness in NSW, has found that almost half of young people seeking assistance for homelessness have experienced domestic and family violence.
- In South Australia, a parliamentary committee has made 35 recommendations to address family and domestic violence, including allowing video evidence taken by police and victims to be used in court.
- Some of Australia’s top universities are struggling to respond to rape culture on campus, a Daily Life article has reported.
Around the world
- In India, a new snapchat account called ‘Snap Counsellors’ is encouraging young people in India and around the world to seek help and speak out about their experiences surviving domestic violence.
- In Mexico, a music video by Gerardo Ortiz depicting violence against women has been removed from YouTube and Vevo.
- In Uruguay, the government presented a draft bill to parliament, aimed at addressing gender-based violence.
Research, reports and resources
- The Department of Social Services has recently developed two fact sheets regarding the role and responsibilities of interpreters in domestic violence situations. The fact sheets can be found at the bottom of the webpage linked here.
- The first of two independent reviews of the Australian National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (Australian NAP) was released last week. The Australian NAP is the Australian’s Government’s mechanism for implementing the United Nations Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.
Get involved!
- The ACT Office for Women has opened nominations for the ACT Violence Prevention Awards. For more information, follow this link. Nominations close at 5pm on 26 April 2016.
- Marai Larasi and Prof Rashida Manjoo will be the keynote speakers for the AWAVA/ Our Watch international conference on violence against women (19 to 22 September 2016). Find out more and sign on for email updates at our website!
- The University of Melbourne has created a website called “Not The Only One” where women can anonymously read and share stories about experiencing family and domestic violence.
- The Gendered Violence Research Centre at UNSW is organising a panel discussion called ‘UNSW Says Who?’ on 21 April 2016. Register here.
- 1800RESPECT is running a webinar titled, ‘Understanding the complexities in LGBTIQ domestic and family violence’ on April 21 at 1pm AEST. Register here.
- invites applications for funding under the Perpetrator Interventions Research Stream, closing on 28 April 2016.
- The Australian Centre for Leadership For Women is seeking nominations for its 2016 Diversity Awards. Application close on 1 May 2016. Find out more here.
- The Child Aware Approaches Conference will be held on 23 and 24 May 2016 in Brisbane. Find out more here.
- The 2016 Global Indigenous Women’s Conference will be held from September 12-14 2016 in Adelaide. Register here.
- The National Multicultural Women’s Conference will be held on 3 and 4 November 2016 in Parkroyal Parramatta, Sydney. Find out more here.
- Master of Psychology student at Bond University, Sharelle Kostogolou, is seeking responses to a survey on the unauthorised sharing of intimate images (or ‘revenge porn’). If you wish to participate in the survey, please follow this link.
- University of Sydney and Munster University researchers, Ruth Phillips and Stephanie Brauer, are researching current changes and ideas about feminism in the non-profit sector and are seeking survey participants. If you wish to participate in the survey, please follow this link.