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Following last Tuesday’s budget announcement, there is a growing consensus that the federal budget needs fundamental change. Seventeen organisations have come together to call for a new approach to budgeting which will bring women’s needs into sharper focus.

“The Minister for Women, Marise Payne, has made it clear that she understands that women will play a vital role in this recovery and the measures outlined in the Women’s Economic Security Statement are a strong first step in that direction,” said Helen Dalley-Fisher, Senior Manager of the Equality Rights Alliance. “It’s therefore concerning that the rest of the budget failed to address the key structural issues facing women. It’s become clear that the budget process itself is one of the barriers we have to address.”

The job of confronting the bias in the budget has been made a little easier by a recognition of the need for more robust data about women’s lives. “It was pleasing to see that there will be a revision and enhancement of the ABS’ Gender Indicators report,‘ said Trish Bergin of the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation. ‘Gender relevant data is essential as a building block towards understanding the gender impact of both current and prospective policy changes”.

However, despite widespread calls for investment in social housing from economists, housing specialists and women’s groups, the budget didn’t address Australia’s dire lack of affordable housing. “We have known for years that Australia is experiencing a housing affordability crisis, with older women the fastest growing group experiencing homelessness,” said Emma Davidson of the Women’s Electoral Lobby. “Building more social housing would help with the rising tide of homelessness, while also creating jobs.”

Another area which needed but failed to get urgent attention in this budget was childcare. Chief Executive Women President, Sue Morphet, said “Increasing female full-time workforce participation is one of Australia’s biggest economic opportunities; and making early childhood education and care more affordable is one of the most effective policy levers to do that. This is not welfare; it is investment in the infrastructure women need to participate more fully in the workforce and maximise their productivity and opportunities.”

“With soaring rates of all forms of violence against women and their children, it is vital that we fund long-term solutions and building a future free from violence for people in Australia” said Tina Dixson, Acting Program Manager of the Australian Women Against Violence Alliance. “The COVID-19 pandemic has not only increased the prevalence of violence but created additional barriers for women to seek safety. Without gender responsive budgeting and commitment to ending violence against women we risk losing lives”.

The Aid budget saw a slight increase for gender equality initiatives but at just 32 per cent of overseas development assistance it falls far short of what’s needed. “Women worldwide are experiencing the worst impacts of the economic and health crises brought on by COVID-19, yet the Government continues to make cuts to the Aid budget in regions where women face persistent gender inequality, alongside the growing impacts of the pandemic,” said Michelle Higelin, Executive Director of global women’s rights organisation ActionAid Australia. “At a time when gender equality is deteriorating worldwide at an alarming pace, Australia’s leadership is vital to address the disproportionate impact this pandemic is having on women and support women leading local responses.”

“It’s time for us to join the majority of nations in the OECD and work towards a budget that is truly gender responsive,” said Helen Dalley-Fisher. “We need a budget and policy process that makes it possible for policy makers to see and address the needs of women.”

For media comment or speakers for interview, please contact:

Emma Davidson – Women’s Electoral Lobby on 0459 901 306
Tina Dixson – AWAVA on 0428 541 396 or [email protected]

Download a copy of this media release here:  

Violence prevention advocates, sexual and reproductive health advocates and legal experts have today released a paper that underlines the importance of safe access zones as a key violence prevention measure in Australia.

Safe access zones are allocated ‘bubbles’ of safety around facilities that provide abortion care that prohibit harassment and intimidation of patients and staff. Safe access zones are in place in all States and Territories apart from South Australia and Western Australia.

The paper highlights that picketers outside of abortion care facilities can erode community trust and feelings of safety for staff working at these facilities and patients accessing services. With a majority of patients accessing these facilities being women, ensuring patients feel safe to access abortion services is key to primary prevention of violence against women.

The University of Queensland’s Pro Bono Centre, the Australian Women Against Violence Alliance and Marie Stopes Australia have developed the paper to inform legislative debate in South Australia and Western Australia, with both States in the process of, or committed to progressing safe access zone legislation.

The paper highlights key issues in debates surrounding safe access zones, specifically, implied freedom of political communication and whether safe access zones breach this constitutional right. This was a matter considered by the High Court recently with all seven judges agreeing that safe access zones do not breach the constitutional right of implied freedom of political communication.

The paper also considers and provides recommendations on key aspects of safe access zone legislation in South Australia and Western Australia including size, definitions of prohibited behaviour, premises that are covered by the zones and exemptions.

In the next two years Australia is providing its human rights review as a part of the Universal Periodic Review as well as its report on women’s rights under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This paper provides a key argument for the harmonization of Australia’s safe access zone laws to prevent violence against women and pregnant people accessing vital sexual and reproductive health services.

QUOTES FROM Professor Heather Douglas, Law School, the University of Queensland:

‘Safe access to health care should be available to everyone and safe access to abortion care should be no different to other health care.’

‘Experience shows that legislation providing for safe access zones improves the safety and security for both health workers attending work and people seeking abortion care.’

QUOTES FROM THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE ALLIANCE (AWAVA), Tina Dixson, Acting Program Manager:

“Access to reproductive healthcare is crucial for women and people who are pregnant in upholding their reproductive rights and bodily autonomy”.

“In situations of violence, access to sexual and reproductive healthcare is about long term recovery and living lives free from violence. For women currently experiencing violence, clinics need to be safe, calm and accessible environments free from judgement and harassment”.

QUOTES FROM MARIE STOPES AUSTRALIA, Jamal Hakim, Managing Director:

“Everyone has the right to access healthcare services safely and with their privacy and dignity protected and respected. Everyone has a right to access their workplace without being intimidated and harassed.”

“Sadly, the picketers outside our clinic in Western Australia believe they can harass and intimidate people without consequences, and this is unacceptable.”

“It really is sad that we need safe access zones. However, the experience of our staff and clients has shown how necessary they are. In places where they have been enacted, they have made a huge, positive impact on the feelings of safety and privacy for staff and clients.”

– Ends –

Marie Stopes Australia is a national not for profit provider of sexual and reproductive health services including permanent and long-acting reversible contraception and abortion care. For more information on our clinic network visit mariestopes.org.au

Media contact:

Jacquie O’Brien, Director Public Affairs and Policy, Marie Stopes Australia, 0428 396 391

Tina Dixson, Acting Program Manager, Australian Women Against Violence Alliance, 0428 541 396

Download a copy of this media release here:

Joint AWAVA and Fair Agenda media release
8 May 2020

Key domestic violence experts are issuing a joint warning that the impacts of COVID-19 on women’s safety are only just beginning to be felt, and will compound the risks women face from abusive partners or family members for months and potentially years after isolation measures are lifted.

Australia’s expert body, Australian Women Against Violence Alliance, backed by campaigning group Fair Agenda are advising that:

Everything we know about the behaviour of abusers suggests that both the immediate and the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to increased danger for those experiencing abuse in their home. Beyond the additional risks created by isolation measures trapping many victim-survivors with abusers, the transition out of these measures will also compound safety risks over the months and potentially years of this recovery period.

Decades of evidence about perpetrator behaviour shows that governments must now plan for:
● Risk of escalating abuse in the home as isolation measures begin to lift, and some perpetrators using violence in response to the loss of control they have been able to exert in the home during lockdown;
● Surges in contact with services from victim-survivors who haven’t had the ability to safely reach out for help while they were trapped in constant proximity with their abuser;
● Escalation of surveillance, harassment and threats by separated abusive partners as they are able to travel to victim-survivors’ residences again;
● Increased numbers of women requiring crisis accommodation and case management support, as windows of opportunity for them to escape open for the first time in weeks;
● Increase in the use of violence by perpetrators when their dominance in the household is threatened by job loss or financial insecurity; and
● Greater barriers to escape for women whose financial security is undermined by job loss or financial insecurity.

All the evidence we have about compounding risk factors for violence tells us that we’re going to see more people affected by violence for the first time; and more who were already dealing with abuse facing escalated violence. Without further action from governments; our communities will not only see unfathomable health and economic impacts – but also an escalation of the family violence crisis already devastating our communities.

There are women around the country reaching out for help to escape their abuser and seek a safer future. They’re doing all they can on their own – but they need support for the next steps. Right now, governments’ decisions are leaving thousands of women on their own with an abuser who is determined to isolate and control them, and dealing with a legal system that might actually increase risks to their safety.

Governments need to: fund specialist women’s and family violence services to ensure everyone can access the service support they need for their safety; ensure the legal system makes the safety of victim-survivors and their children a priority; and assist those at particular risk due to visa status or disability to access essential support.

Quotes that can be attributed to spokespeople:

“We were already in the midst of a family violence crisis. Now the COVID-19 pandemic is adding the kind of pressure, stressors and upheaval that history shows is likely to exacerbate the violence and control that abusers are using and put more women at risk.” – Dr Merrindahl Andrew, AWAVA

“We know abusers are obsessed with building power and control over their target, and that they tend to escalate their abuse when that control is threatened. It’s why victim-survivors are most at risk when they try to escape.” – Renata Field, Domestic Violence NSW

“The first wave of impacts are already being seen – with many women trapped at home with an abuser who is now in a position to exert even more control over their lives. In the first few weeks of lockdown, we’ve seen some women reaching out for help for the first time; while others were completely cut off from the services they previously relied on for their safety.” – Kedy Kristal, Policy Officer, WA Council for Women’s Domestic and Family Violence Services

“For some, the lifting of restrictions may be the first opportunity they have to escape the house without their partner stopping them. For others, the increased opportunities for movement may mean that a separated partner starts bringing their bottled up frustration and anger back to their house, and threatening, harassing or assaulting them.” – Dr Merrindahl Andrew, AWAVA

“We know that men who perceive their role as one of dominance in their household, or feel entitled to wield control over their partner, are likely to respond to job loss or heightened financial insecurity by deciding to increase their abusive behaviour.” – Julie Oberin, Chair of WESNET, the Women’s Services Network

“For women experiencing abuse who have just lost their jobs, that financial insecurity might be the final straw that makes it impossible to escape.” – Susie Smith, Co-Chair of Embolden, South Australia’s peak body of domestic, family and sexual violence services

“The risks of this crisis and the recovery period are only just beginning to emerge – and the governments’ current response falls well short of what is needed. There are still major gaps for women’s safety that need to be a top priority for the National Cabinet and COAG.” – Renee Carr, Fair Agenda

“There are women around the country reaching out for help to escape their abuser and to build safer futures. They’re doing all they can on their own – they need support for the next steps. And right now, governments are leaving thousands of women on their own with abusers who are determined to isolate and control them.” – Renee Carr, Fair Agenda

“Recent commitments from the Morrison Government aren’t enough to meet the scale of this challenge, and the risks women are facing. Without further action, too many women will be left on their own to manage increasing risks to their safety.” – Renee Carr, Fair Agenda

“There are still many areas where resourcing decisions from governments are leaving women at risk. Both safe at home programs and refuges and other crisis accommodation aren’t resourced to help everyone reaching out to them – leaving those who need their help facing impossible situations. The services that should be there to intervene and hold perpetrators to account aren’t resourced to do that work at the scale needed.” – Renee Carr, Fair Agenda

Background

What experts say is needed

In response to Hannah Clarke’s murder and the COVIF-19 pandemic, domestic violence experts have advised governments that urgent action is needed in these areas:

Proper funding of the specialist services women rely on for their safety

The time a woman tries to escape her abuser, or reaches out for help, can be incredibly dangerous. It’s vital she can access the help she needs, when she needs it.

Even once the latest funding commitments are distributed, services still won’t be resourced to assist everyone who needs it. Experts have expressed particular concern about:
● There will still be a significant number of women who will not be able to access ​safe at home programs. ​This means they’re left to make the impossible choice between fleeing and hoping they can access homelessness services, or staying trapped at home with their abuser. Without safe at home programs which assist survivors with security for the home, protection orders and support; many women and children will remain trapped in abusive situations in perpetuity.
● Crisis accommodation ​services will still be beyond their capacity to provide physical shelter to those fleeing unsafe homes; and without the specialist staff who are needed to provide the immediate safety management assistance to those facing such significant safety risks
● Services that intervene with men at risk of using violence to change their behaviour ​expect a huge surge in demand for behaviour change programs as isolation measures lift, and warn that without additional investment in capacity, the waiting lists for intervention with men at risk of using violence will be unacceptably long, and won’t be available everywhere it’s needed.
● Family Violence Prevention Legal Services ​- the key specialist and culturally safe service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victim/survivors of family violence – particularly women and their children – are already unable to meet demand, and bracing for a massive increase in demand as restrictions start to lift.
● Community legal services​ warn that they’re still unable to meet existing unmet need; far less the further surge in demand expected as the next wave impacts are felt. These are the kinds of services women affected by domestic violence rely on to help them protect their children, to navigate the family law system, and to deal with financial abuse.

Ensuring the legal system prioritises safety

Even before the COVID19 pandemic, systemic failures in the justice system meant that many women and children facing violence were not getting adequate protection; and dealing with a legal system that sometimes increases risks to their safety.

Police and courts need to have women’s and children’s safety at the top of their agenda during this time of increased risk.

Governments need to improve AVO standards to hold perpetrators accountable and interrupt escalating violence. Too often those orders are not enforced, or don’t account for the dynamics and patterns of abuse being used, and so don’t provide the protection that’s needed for a woman or child’s safety.

While progress has been made with the urgent COVID-19 family law list enabling faster resolution of high risk parenting cases, the family law system still operates to force children into care arrangements with parents who are violent and abusive. The legislated requirement that the starting point for decisions about parenting arrangements is a presumption of shared parental responsibility must be removed so that courts can more freely consider what is in the best interests of the child in each individual circumstance with a focus on safety first.

Ensure every woman subject to violence is able to access the support she needs to be safe Economic insecurity can be an insurmountable barrier to escaping escalating violence, and loss of income due to COVID-19 will increase the barriers faced by many women trying to escape a violent perpetrator. As costs rise and access to many services becomes more difficult, experts have urged the Government to ensure that people with a disability and those on temporary visas aren’t left behind and in danger.

This crisis is making everything harder for all victim-survivors to access support, and to be safe. Unlike those relying on most other forms of income support, people living with a disability haven’t received an increase in their payment. And those on temporary visas face existing barriers to accessing services, income and basic healthcare due to strict eligibility criteria. The risks they face are likely to be compounded by perpetrators withholding and blocking access to healthcare and finances; and they face increased uncertainty about their migration status if they are to reach out for help. Women in these situations urgently need access to income support available to others – as well as housing, health services, interpreters and legal assistance.

Maintaining access to contraception and abortion care

The increase in abuse and violence is expected to include sexual violence and reproductive coercion. It’s known that forced pregnancy is often used by abusers in an attempt to tie their partner to them, and make it more difficult for them to escape and re-establish a separate life.

Experts are highlighting the importance of ensuring those who need contraception and abortion care are still able to access it. That means ensuring clinics and delivery avenues for medical abortion care remain operational, and that clients can access care.

Explaining expected impacts

Risk of escalating abuse as stay at home measures lift

We know that abusers are obsessed with building power and control over their family members, and that they tend to escalate their abuse when that control is threatened. It’s why the most dangerous time for victim-survivors is when they try to escape.

As the restrictions on movement that have afforded many abusers greater ability to monitor, harass and intimidate their partner lift, many will respond to that (as to the loss of other types of control) by deciding to escalate their use of control, abuse and violence.

Escalation of threats from separated partners

For those living separate from their abuser – the movement restrictions have prevented some of the physical harassment and stalking abusers often conduct in the wake of someone escaping. Reports show that abusers have been using online mechanisms and technology to harass and threaten partners during this time. Many will have spent those weeks stewing, and can be expected to use the lifting of movement restrictions as an opportunity to return to their ex-partner’s home to harass, intimidate or harm them.

Anticipated wave of women attempting to escape

For those who have experienced escalating violence and abuse during the lock-down period, the easing of restrictions may be their first chance to escape and find a safer place to stay. The time that a woman tries to escape is known to be the most dangerous, because abusers tend to respond to that loss of control by escalating their use violence – sometimes to lethal levels.

Refuges are not sufficiently funded to provide appropriate physical space – or the case management and therapeutic services needed to manage the risks for every person who has just escaped an abuser who may be intent on stalking, surveilling and harassing them.

Job losses likely to exacerbate abusive behaviour

Those who perceive their role as one of dominance in their household or who feel entitled to have control over their partner, job losses and heightened financial insecurity are likely to exacerbate abusive behaviour.
Evidence from Australia and international contexts shows that situations of ​heightened stress and panic, increased financial pressures, and disruption to usual personal and social roles can all compound and exacerbate the underlying inequalities and beliefs that lead to violence against women.

Job losses for victim-survivors will increase barriers to escape

Financial insecurity is a key barrier for women working to escape an abuser and build a safer future. For many, access to the money they need to relocate and live separately from their abuser are vital preconditions to escape, and their ability to remain living separately to their abuser. Many will be dealing with financial abuse that may preclude them from accessing any previous assets, and current income will be the determinant of their ability to relocate and put food on the table. Even before COVID-19, domestic and family violence was the leading cause of homelessness; now with job losses, the risks of victims/survivors facing homelessness are even greater.

The barriers to building safer futures are even higher for women on temporary visas – who may be facing job loss with none of the income support that is available to many others.

For women with disabilities the increased costs and difficulties of accessing basics like groceries may increase their reliance on the person who is abusing them. The Government’s failure to increase the disability support payment in line with other supports like JobSeeker mean women who are experiencing abuse from their carer are facing insurmountable barriers to escape.

For further information and any media inquiries please email [email protected]

29 March 2020

The national alliance of organisations working to end all forms of violence against women has welcomed the announcement today of $150 million of Federal government funding to support women and children subjected to violence through the coronavirus pandemic, and noted more will be needed to manage this emerging crisis.

“This funding is badly needed and very welcome. We are heartened that the Federal Government has finally started to act on the expert advice and evidence from here and around the world – that this pandemic is increasing violence against women and their children and that we need to act urgently to increase support. Today’s announcement is a welcome start to address this problem, but it’s vital it’s not the last,” said AWAVA Program Manager Dr Merrindahl Andrew.

Demand for services is already increasing as abusers escalate their violence and people subjected to abuse find their usual support options cut off, with several services reporting increases of 20-30% on top of already escalating need following the murders of Hannah Clarke and her children.

“Today’s commitment is a positive start to begin addressing this crisis, but the scale of the funding has to be much larger to have a hope of ensuring the number of women and children who will need our assistance during this period are able to access the intensive support they will require in diverse and challenging situations during this pandemic,” Dr Andrew said.

“More funding is still needed in key areas. We estimate that the Keeping Women Safe in their Home program alone needs $180 million to meet demand Australia-wide, enabling women and children to stay in the family home where it is safe to do so,” Dr Andrew said.

“For women’s safety, during this time we also need massive, urgent investment in crisis accommodation, specialist outreach and case management services so women can be supported to develop safety plans and set up safe living situations for themselves and their children,” Dr Andrew said.

“As we shift to online and phone support, WESNET’s safe phones program, which provides safe smart phones and tech safety advice to victims/survivors and frontline workers, will be absolutely critical. Yet the government still has not announced funding to continue this service beyond 30 June – funding must be restored immediately if we are to ensure women have the technology they need to access services during this time.”

“Further changes are needed for women’s safety at this time, including additional funding for disability support pensions, increasing refuge capacity, making women on temporary visas experiencing violence eligible for all health, services and income support, ensuring access to contraception and abortion, and ensuring victims/survivors can rely on civil protection orders. We call on the Government to act on these changes next,” Dr Andrew said.

“It is positive that the new COAG Women’s Safety Council is meeting to work out how the funding should be delivered. We urge the Council to address these gaps, and to draw on the expertise of victims/survivors and the specialist services working to support them,” Dr Andrew concluded.

For media comment contact [email protected] or phone 1800 937 638

For immediate release 

13 March 2020

Key women’s safety advocates have denounced the woeful outcomes from today’s COAG meeting in relation to women’s and children’s safety. 

The groups say that the lack of action coming out of today’s COAG meeting shows an absence of leadership; and a decision to abandon the women and children whose safety would be improved by the 5 expert-backed actions.

Last week, the Australian Women Against Violence Alliance and women’s rights campaigning movement Fair Agenda, alongside 84 groups working for women’s safety – sent a joint letter to all governments outlining five key changes they need to make to dramatically improve women’s safety. Those actions were:

1. Fully funding the specialist services women and children rely on to be safe.
2. Putting children’s safety first in the family law system. 
3. Identify women and children at immediate risk 
4. Improving AVO standards to hold perpetrators accountable and interrupt their escalating violence
5. Ensuring everyone’s calls for help can be heard.

“Heads of government have left this meeting having done nothing to address the urgent safety issues experts have laid out; and which contribute to one woman’s future and life being stolen from her every single week. The women and children in danger right now deserve better than this weak commitment to more discussions about possible action in the future.” – Dr Merrindahl Andrew, Program Manager,  Australian Women Against Violence Alliance.

“Responsibility for implementing most of these 5 desperately needed changes sits with the federal government, so Prime Minister Morrison’s lack of leadership is particularly disappointing.” Renee Carr, Executive Director, Fair Agenda. 

“The Prime Minister  told parliament all of us need to reflect on how and where the system failed Hannah and her children. Experts have since told his government five key areas where the systems are failing women and children at risk, and that he could fix immediately – and today he’s ignored that advice.” – added Ms Carr.

Instead, coming out of today’s meeting COAG has committed to no immediate action. Their only commitments are promises of further discussion: including creating a new COAG council, and working to “understand the current status” of crisis accommodation and housing support.

“The women at risk right now deserve immediate changes that can help make them and their children safer. Experts laid out five immediate interventions that governments could have, and should have, locked in today. Those changes would have improved women’s safety within weeks. Instead, with each passing day the government delays these desperately needed actions, women in incredible danger will be turned away from services; forced by courts to deliver their children to a parent who is a known safety risk to them; and unable to access basic interpreting services so their calls for help can be understood.” Ms Carr. 

“We have a broken Family Law system that is placing kids with violent parents. Actually forcing them to spend time with them. We have women reaching out for help, and having to be left unassisted, because governments are making decisions they know will lead to women being turned away. We have men using violence, being turned away from services that are supposed to help them change their behaviour.” Dr Merrindahl Andrew added.

“The excuse that governments need more information about service gaps before taking action is absurd. We know that every day 63 women in NSW alone are reaching out for help; but unable to get access to the safe at home programs that are best placed to improve their safety. We know Family Violence Prevention Legal Services have to turn away 30-40% of people contacting them for support. We know that a program that helps 600 women a month access safe technology is about to be cut. This isn’t a question of information, it’s a question of priorities.” said Hayley Foster, Women’s Safety NSW.

“Major investment is needed to ensure women aren’t left on their own to escape an abuser who is trying to stalk, harass and punish them. Today’s decision will leave many, many women at risk.” Ms Foster added.

“We still have federal laws in operation that mean every day kids are forced into care arrangements with parents where there are real concerns of violence and abuse.” – added Ms Lynch.

“Government’s can’t just focus on either prevention or response. They need to do both.” – Dr Andrew added.

“We need governments to commit to the comprehensive reform needed for women’s safety in the long-term. But there are women and children at risk right now, who can’t wait for  future action. They need these five changes we know can improve their safety immediately.” – Dr Andrew concluded.

“Prevention is incredibly important but we also need the urgent, additional and sustained funding that experts have been calling for for years. Preventing violence in the future takes not just changing attitudes; but also fixing the systems that keep women and children unsafe.” added Joanne Yates, CEO of Domestic Violence NSW.

For immediate release |  AWAVA & Fair Agenda

5 March 2020

Ahead of the special meeting of Women’s Safety Ministers on Friday, domestic and family violence experts have today written to call for their governments to action five urgent and immediate changes to improve women’s safety.

The letter authored by Australian Violence Against Women Alliance and Fair Agenda (attached), has been signed by over 70 groups, who are all jointly backing five interventions they say can and must be locked in Friday, to provide immediate improvements to women’s and children’s safety:

1. Fully funding the specialist services women and children rely on to be safe.
2. Putting kids’ safety first in the family law system.
3. Ensuring women and children facing major safety risks can be identified and referred correctly by frontline workers in health, social, family and community services.
4. Improving AVO standards so that women and children can rely upon them for their safety, and perpetrators are held accountable for ongoing patterns of violence and abuse.
5. Ensuring everyone’s calls for help can be heard.

“The murder of Hannah Clarke and her children has to be a turning point. The community is crying out for government action to put us on the path to a safer future. Experts have laid out the five specific changes governments must get started with this Friday.” said Renee Carr, Executive Director of Fair Agenda – a movement campaigning for women’s safety, economic security and agency.
“Women can’t afford for this meeting to only result in more plans and promises of future action. Alongside long-term plans, we need these five immediate changes to urgently improve women and children’s’ safety.” added Ms Carr.
“Governments can’t keep pointing to the text in the Fourth Action Plan as if that’s all that’s needed to make women safer. The plan isn’t worth the paper it’s written on if it’s not matched with adequate resourcing of services, and changes to the systems that perpetuate this crisis.” – said Dr Merrindahl Andrew, Program Manager AWAVA.

“With increasing awareness of the issue, and a public focus on changing attitudes, more women than ever before are seeking greater safety and support from services. Without full funding of the specialist services that women rely on to be safe, the current national action plan is set on a course to fail,” Dr Andrew said.

“Sadly, we know that men who are emotionally, physically and financially abusing their partners can also be a risk to their children. Right now the government’s Family Law Act operates to force a horrifying number of kids into care arrangements with parents who are violent and abusive – posing an immediate and ongoing risk to their safety and wellbeing. This needs to change immediately – courts should be putting kids’ safety first.” – added Angela Lynch, Women’s Legal Service Queensland.
“We keep hearing calls for innovative solutions to tackling domestic violence. Today the sector is renewing its call for sustainable resourcing for frontline services. These are the crucial services that make women and children safe. This for us would be real innovation” said Joanne Yates CEO Domestic Violence NSW.

Media contact: Dr Merrindahl Andrew, AWAVA, 0428 541 396 or Renee Carr, Fair Agenda, 0435 597 976
—

Background on the five action areas
1. Fully fund the services women rely on to be safe
The time a woman reaches out for help, or tries to escape her abuser, can be the most dangerous. Access to a specialist women’s service can be life saving.

We cannot leave women on their own to escape an abuser who is determined to stalk, track, harass, and intimidate her. The consequences are devastating.
Right now, funding decisions across state, territory and federal governments mean many services are forced to turn women in danger away. Specifically:

• 150 women have to be turned away from specialist homelessness services every day – many of them women affected by domestic violence,
•  170,000 people have to be turned away from legal assistance services every year – the kind of service women affected by domestic violence rely on to help them protect their children, to navigate the family law system, and to deal with financial abuse,
• Services that intervene with men at risk of using violence to change their behaviour, have to turn away men who need their programs every week, and many have six month waiting lists,
• Family Violence Prevention Legal Services report that 30-40% of the women contacting them have to be turned away because they don’t have the capacity to support them.

What’s more:

• Family Violence Prevention Legal Services are still facing a funding cut to their National Forum – the only national voice for services working with First Nations women affected by family violence.
• The WESNET-Telstra safe phones program, which has been independently found to be effective in keeping victims/survivors safe and connected as well as increasing frontline practitioners’ confidence in working with women experiencing technology abuse, is fighting federal Government cuts.

2. Put kids’ safety first
Children can be at great danger from a parent who is using domestic and family violence, and being exposed to such abusive and violent behaviour can be profoundly damaging to their wellbeing and development.
An estimated 70% of matters in family court involve family violence and abuse. Yet the starting point for decisions about parenting arrangements under the current legislation is a presumption of shared parental responsibility. This emphasis on the child having a “meaningful relationship” with both parents is so strong that it operates in practice to force large numbers of children into care arrangements with parents who are violent and abusive. This leads to ongoing damage to the child’s wellbeing, and often forces the other parent to maintain contact with a perpetrator who is using abusive behaviour and causing them harm.

The Federal Government needs to remove the emphasis on shared parenting in the Family Law Act to enable courts to put children’s safety first when making orders about where they live and with whom they spend time.

3. Identify women and children at immediate risk
Strangulation, sexual assault and coercive behaviours (including through technology), are part of an escalating pattern of abuse, and can be a sign that a woman’s life is at imminent risk.
Wherever a woman is reaching out for help – whether at a community legal centre, police station, court, hospital, GP or pregnancy check up – we need that service to be able to identify when her safety is at immediate risk, and to refer her to an expert service best placed to assist her to be safe.
We also need to train those working with people who display signs of abusive and violent behaviour to identify what level of intervention is needed, and to engage the relevant accredited behaviour change or perpetrator intervention services, so we can reduce the abuse and violence women and children are facing.
4. Improve AVO standards to hold perpetrators accountable and interrupt their escalating violence
People experiencing violence should be able to rely on our civil and criminal justice system for their protection. For women and children subjected to domestic and family violence, the main mechanism for their protection is an apprehended violence order (AVO).
Under the current system, all too often those orders are not enforced, or include requirements that don’t account for the dynamics and patterns of abuse being used, and can make it harder for a woman to manage her children’s and her own safety.
We need all parts of the AVO system to adhere to higher standards in recognising escalating violence and holding perpetrators accountable.
Achieving those higher standards will require police and judiciary to improve their understanding of the presentation, patterns and impacts of domestic and family violence. Such specialisation is important because without adequate understanding, police and courts can inadvertently mistake the victim as the primary aggressor; undermining victim/survivors’ trust in the system, and its ability to help them when they need it most.

We need a consistent and appropriate response from police and the courts, including collection of all relevant evidence, and making orders on behalf of victim-survivors where relevant, and where orders are breached ensuring sanctions are appropriate and consistent.

5. Ensure everyone’s call for help can be heard

We need to ensure that regardless of her disability, cultural or language background, or geographical location, any woman reaching out for help to escape abuse and violence is able to access the assistance she needs.

Disclosing abuse and asking for help is hard enough, without having to figure out how to translate what you’re going through into your second or third language. Translation and interpreting services can make all the difference for a person who is still learning English, or whose hearing or speech impairment makes it hard to communicate.

See here for the full text of the letter and the most up to date signatories.

9 January 2020 

WESNET, as contract manager and employer for the AWAVA secretariat based in Canberra, have released the following statement in light of an unfolding climate emergency and public health crisis in the ACT.

“As you may know, the AWAVA Secretariat is located in Canberra, which has been subject to unhealthy and often hazardous smoke conditions from the bushfires for several weeks. The AWAVA staff members, their families and communities are impacted by the bushfires in various ways, and the AWAVA team members need to be attentive first and foremost to the health and well-being of themselves and each other. Over the last fortnight, all of the AWAVA staff team have been involved in supporting people in the community who are susceptible to the effects of smoke, heat exhaustion and the fires more generally. We expect this work will need to continue.

The AWAVA team will still be working but will also be managing and balancing a number of other critical priorities. The AWAVA staff have stated: “as the Secretariat, our workload was already under pressure from the unnecessary and damaging Family Law Inquiry. Now, in the context of the bushfires and climate emergency, we cannot operate on a ‘business-as-usual’ basis. We will endeavour to maintain our contributions to joint projects, but we will need to adjust our work so that it does not undermine our own health in the context of the bushfires and smoke, and so that we are able to support the well-being of our families and communities. We will respect the similar needs of other people we interact with through our work.”

Even before the current bushfire emergency, AWAVA and WESNET were dismayed at the lack of collaborative Government action to change the systems that enable and perpetuate violence against women, the lack of meaningful engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, as well as all the other harms affecting marginalised people. The current bushfire emergency brings a sharp reminder of the interconnectedness of different issues affecting women in Australia. The AWAVA team will bring this to bear in supporting the Alliance as it develops its future plans for policy advocacy. This will include articulating the links between violence and the impacts of climate change, and our commitment to a holistic approach to human safety, human rights and a healthy and safe environment.

WESNET recognises that the ACT Government declared a State of Alert in early January which remains in place for bushfires and which also recognises the unhealthy air quality. WESNET fully supports our staff to keep themselves safe and well during this terrible situation until the environmental conditions become healthy and safe again.”

Download the statement here here: