This is the last Weekly Round-Up to be prepared by the AWAVA Team, but please stay tuned as WESNET is working to keep the Weekly Round-Up going beyond the end of our National Women’s Alliance funding. Thank you for all your support and contributions. Around the Country
- Western Australia has legislated safe access zones around abortion clinics, meaning that people accessing abortions in all states and territories are protected from intimidation.
- In Queensland, hundreds of children aged 10-17 served with domestic violence protection orders potentially face criminal records for breaches, but have limited access to specialist support services.
- The Positive Futures program, in Cape York, run by local police with input from elders takes a cultural focus toward behaviour change for domestic violence offenders.
- More than a dozen migrant and welfare advocacy bodies have written in to a Senate Inquiry opposing a bill that would impose a four-year waiting period on new migrants before they can access a number of welfare payments.
- Homelessness among women experiencing violence in Australia is less visible due to current numbers not accounting for the differences in ways women may present homelessness.
- New legislation in the ACT requires courts to consider specific factors in sentencing for family violence offences, and allows the use of body-worn cameras for police on private property without consent.
- Cross-examinations between victim-survivors and perpetrators still take place in WA Family Court proceedings, as a 2018 Commonwealth ban only applies to married couples.
- Some victim-survivors of sexual violence are calling for Victoria to adopt affirmative sex consent laws. However, legal experts highlight that merely changing the laws alone does not suffice to address convictions of sexual violence, but that the implementation of such laws in the justice system must also be considered.
- Specialist services’ employees are experiencing increases in workload as demand for support and services by domestic violence victim-survivors continues to rise during the NSW lockdown, but capacity remains limited.
Around the World
Reports and PublicationsCalls for Research
- PhD Candidate Samantha Donnelly is conducting research on the effect of interior and exterior spaces in women's refuges on the quality of experience for women, children, and workers in refuge environments. The research focuses on women's refuges in urban and regional NSW, and considers best practice examples from other states. One-on-one interviews with refuge managers, case workers and residents are currently being conducted. If you have suggestions about refuges, or would like your service to be included in this research, please contact [email protected].
- The journal Labour & Industry is calling for manuscripts by 29 October 2021 for a special issue “Domestic Violence and Work: Theory, Policy and Practice”.
- ANROWS is inviting researchers to register their projects with the Register of Active Research (RAR), a centralised register of current research helping to build a comprehensive landscape of research in progress in Australia relating to violence against women and their children. You can register your research project with ANROWS here.
- Researchers at the University of South Australia are looking for volunteers to participate in a study comparing two different approaches to improving stress, mood and quality of life for South Australian women previously affected by domestic violence. Please visit the study Facebook page here for more information.
- Have you recently supported a victim/survivor of family violence to report a breach of their IVO to Victoria Police? Was the response appropriate? Was the response best practice? Did the breach get recorded? Rachael will be conducting interviews (over the phone or online) with current or past service users of family violence programs in Victoria who the case managers deem appropriate to participate in this research on “Reporting and Recording of Breaches of Family Violence Intervention Orders: Experiences and Perceptions of Women, Support Workers and Police.” For more information, please email [email protected].
- Do you have insight into intimate partner violence perpetrated by Australian Defence Force personnel? QUT researcher Rebecca Pollard is inviting persons with experience in Australian Defence Force culture or advocates/practitioners with experience in intimate partner violence who have assisted Australian Defence Force spouses. Participation will involve an audio recorded interview that takes approximately one hour. To arrange an interview contact [email protected].
- Jessica Armitage is currently conducting research with Dr Areana Eivers, assisted by Romy Winter and Ron Frey (Tas), into the understanding of the concept of emotional abuse amongst domestic and family violence workers. The aim of this project is to assist law enforcement personnel to achieve more successful prosecutions of emotional abuse, particularly in instances where there is not concomitant physical violence. More information and details on participating in this research on emotional abuse amongst domestic and family violence workers is available here.
Surveys and Inquiries
Events and Training Sessions
DV-alert offers an ongoing program of training for workers in health, community services and related professions, so that workers can learn to recognise the signs of domestic violence, respond appropriately and refer the case if appropriate. For more information on DV-alert’s training, visit the website here.
********** Engender Equality is running a new online masterclass Breaking the Trap: Working with Clients Experiencing Coercive Control. Participants in the masterclass work directly with Dr Torna Pitman and a small group of peers in a relaxed 3-hour forum to explore the real-life application of coercive control theory. They also receive a Breaking the Trap practitioner resource for use in their own client work. There are six sessions running from August – October. Concession tickets are available. Register here.
********** Children by Choice have upcoming online and in person training sessions for health and allied health care professionals who wish to provide non-directive pregnancy decision making support, work with people experiencing reproductive coercion or provide post-abortion support and counselling. Training is offered in accordance with Children by Choice's pro-choice framework. View online and downloadable resources and training dates here, or contact [email protected] to discuss your organisational training needs. ********** The Deakin Human Rights and Refugees Society is running a Women’s Rights Panel. Tickets are pay-as-you-can, and all revenue will go toward the Victoria Women’s Trust. More information and registration here.
When: 23 August 2021 Where: Online ********** ANROWS is hosting a webinar “Systems, access, evidence: migrant and refugee women experiencing domestic and family violence”. The expert panel will discuss ways in with enagement with systems is a critical engagement of addressing DFV in all its forms. More information and registration here.
When: 30 August 2021 Where: Online ********** Women’s Health Victoria is offering an online masterclass “Gender Transformative Practice”, aiming to build your confidence and skills to undertake effective gender transformative practice as part of your primary prevention and gender equality work. This Masterclass explores the key theoretical principles underpinning gender transformative work, asking you to reflect on your own practice and experience. More information and registration here.
When: 13-14 October 2021 Where: Online General Resources, Courses and Opportunities
*Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only.
If you would like to submit a particularly topical piece of news, research, report, etc. please e-mail to [email protected]. We cannot guarantee this will be included.
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