14 February 2023

Family Law Amendment Bill 2023

AWAVA welcomes the federal government’s release of the Exposure Draft of the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023.

Many of us in the sector - including AWAVA members, the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children (NCSMC) and Women's Legal Services of Australia (WLSA) - have campaigned tirelessly for these much needed changes to family law. We know, particularly, that violent men have used the ‘shared parenting provisions’ to continue to exert power, control, and fear over women and children. With the development of the Exposure Draft we are very close to seeing that dangerous and poorly founded assumption being overturned.

You can help ensure improvements to family law by joining the voices of campaigners such as NCSMC and WLSA (linked above), and/or by making a submission to government on the draft Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 by 27 February 2023.

Around the Country

• Support for domestic violence survivors are among the new measures to be funded under the $424 million second Closing the Gap implementation plan, which will focus on practical ways to improve quality of life for Indigenous people.

• Nearly 20,000 refugees will soon be able to apply for permanency, giving them the same rights as permanent residents after being kept “in limbo”. The changes have been hailed by refugee advocates as “a victory of unity and compassion over division and fear”.

• In the lead up to the NSW election, advocates welcome attention on domestic and family violence during the campaign but say long-term commitments are what’s needed.

• Federal politicians have endorsed a new code of conduct for themselves and their staff as the prime minister promises Parliament House will lead workplace behaviour standards across Australia.

• In the Australian parliament NT senators shared emotional experiences of domestic violence.

• The Australian government is introducing a $10b housing fund to target homelessness, with 4,000 (of 30,000) homes to be dedicated for women and children fleeing family and domestic violence, and older women at risk of homelessness.

• Anyone buying a gun in Western Australia will have to undergo mandatory and ongoing mental health checks, as part of a complete overhaul of the state's 50-year-old firearms legislation.

Around the World

• UNFPA scaling up emergency response to reach women and girls in Türkiye and Syria in aftermath of powerful earthquakes.

• The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down a longstanding federal law preventing gun ownership among people who have had domestic violence restraining orders imposed against them.

• A groundbreaking ruling by a human rights court on how the Bolivian justice system must treat sexual violence cases could reverberate throughout Latin America.

• The latest figures on femicides in Venezuela show organised crime is one of the main drivers of violence against women, with community leaders, family members of criminals, and workers in illicit economies particularly vulnerable. While a majority of the murders were perpetrated by current or former partners, violence related to organised crime is the second biggest driver of femicides in Venezuela.

• The UK’s leading organization fighting anti-LGBTQ+ abuse, Galop, has just launched the nation’s first rape and sexual abuse helpline which will be dedicated to supporting and listening to queer people who have been affected by sexual violence and abuse.

• Hong Kong’s top court has ruled it unconstitutional to bar trans people from changing their gender on legal ID without undergoing full sex reassignment surgery.

• In Pakistan, pink buses have been added to Karachi’s public transportation fleet; these buses are dedicated entirely to women who use public transport and are operated by women to ensure all riders feel safe, especially at night.

• The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has commended Georgia on mechanisms to advance efforts towards equality and women’s empowerment, and raised questions on initiatives undertaken to combat domestic violence and inequality between men and women in the labour market.

• In Wales, choirs performing at international rugby matches at the Principality Stadium have been banned from singing the Tom Jones classic, Delilah. The song has caused controversy, with lyrics depicting the murder of a woman by her ex-partner.

Research and Reports

• A University of Queensland study found many Indigenous women who died in custody had not been sentenced by a court, but were on remand or in protective custody.

• The Australian Institute of Criminology has released Domestic and family violence perpetrator screening and risk assessment in Queensland: Current practice and future opportunities.

• A Queensland University of Technology report Who uses domestic, family, and sexual violence, how, and why? provides a focused examination of violence perpetration, in order to enhance national efforts to end domestic, family and sexual violence. 

• Domestic Violence Disclosure Schemes: Policy Overview (Monash University) examines domestic violence disclosure schemes, including what they are, and where they have been debated across Australia and New Zealand.

• The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability has released a research report Diversity, dignity, equity and best practice: a framework for supported decision-making.

• Uniting Communities has created a recommendations paper Improving intervention orders to better protect victims of family and domestic violence.

• The UK House of Commons has released a research brief Sentencing for violence against women and girls.

• Key findings from the latest Arab Barometer survey, its seventh wave, reveal that clear majorities in the 12 MENA countries in which the survey was conducted still hold traditional views on gender norms.

• Ahinkorah, B.O., Aboagye, R.G., Cadri, A. et al. Exposure to interparental violence and intimate partner violence among women in Papua New Guinea. BMC Women's Health 23, 48 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02179-5

Media

• Tune into Let’s Talk…social justice with Kevin Yow Yeh for the third episode in a five-part series on state-sanctioned colonial violence. This week, Kevin focuses on the gendered dimensions of colonial violence through a deep and wide-ranging conversation with Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist and academic Amy McQuire.

• The Conversation asks Who is perpetrating domestic, sexual and family violence?

• The Conversation also asks Will multicultural Australians support the Voice? The success of the referendum may hinge on it. 

• SBS offers Voice to Parliament: An architect of the Uluru Statement answers key questions about the referendum.

• Listen to ABC RN on Homelessness services plead for more funding as costs and demand spiral with Kate Colvin, CEO, Homelessness Australia.

• Crikey writes The silence is deafening after men killed 10 women in just 20 days. It’s time to shout about it.

• The Guardian (UK) asks What will it take to stop the rape and murder of women by men on probation?

• CNN reports They released a sex video to shame and silence her. She’s one of many women in Myanmar doxxed and abused on Telegram by supporters of the military.

• ABC Everyday writes about food control - a form of coercive control that is often invisible and potentially life-threatening.

• The Washington Post writes Femicide is up. American history says that’s not surprising.

• ABC News reports Indian online groups connecting thousands, as social media helps migrants thrive in Australia.

• The Nigerian Premium Times has a Special Report: Threats, trauma trail GBV reporters in Nigeria.

• Lawfare writes Contextualizing the Nigerian Government’s Forced Abortion Program.

Grants

• The Queensland government has opened applications to access a new $3 million grant program to support the new national plan to end violence against women and children. Applications can be lodged until Friday 24 February with successful submissions announced in March 2023.

Surveys and Consultations

• Consultation - by way of a survey - for Australia’s first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan to End Violence against Women and Children is now open until 23 February 2023. This survey seeks input on topics being considered for the Action Plan and views on the foundations the Framework provides. The survey should be completed after reading the consultation guide.

• Deakin University and WESNET are inviting domestic and family violence workers to participate in a survey that is exploring the impacts of using home CCTV with victim-survivors of domestic and family violence. Participants will not be remunerated for completing the survey but will be provided an honorarium donation to their organisation.

• Have you experienced tech-facilitated coercive control? Has a partner abused you using text messages or Facebook? Have they tracked you using GPS tracking apps? If you have experienced this type of abuse and sought safety and justice support, researchers from Monash, RMIT and WESNET would like to speak to you. Contact [email protected]

Submissions

• The Australian Law Reform Commission has released Religious Educational Institutions and Anti-Discrimination Laws: Consultation Paper, with submissions due on 24 February 2023.

• The Joint Standing Committee Inquiry into the operation of the National Redress Scheme is seeking submissions by 27 February 2023.

• The Australian Government is seeking comments on the draft Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 by 27 February 2023.

• The Senate Inquiry Current and proposed sexual consent laws in Australia is seeking submissions by 2 March 2023.

• Parity Magazine is seeking contributions for their an edition focussing on how Safe at Home responses support life outcomes for victim-survivors of family violence, including how principles are put into practice and how this is measured. Deadline for submissions is 10 March 2023.

• The Australian Government has released a discussion paper with further detail about the Early Years Strategy which will guide early years policies and programs across the Commonwealth for the next decade to ensure children aged 5 and below have the best start in life. Submissions to the strategy close on 30 April 2023.

• A parliamentary joint standing committee is conducting a NDIS General Issues Inquiry to identify broad systemic issues relating to the implementation, performance, governance, administration and expenditure of the NDIS. Submissions are due by 30 June 2023.

Events

• The Queer Displacements is the first and only conference (22-23 February 2023) in the Asia Pacific designed to comprehensively foreground protection and settlement challenges of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) forcibly displaced people. Registrations are now open, visit the conference website for more information.

• The largest LGBTIQA+ Human Rights Conference ever held in the southern hemisphere will take place from 1 to 3 March 2023. While conference tickets are sold out, single day tickets to mainstage sessions are still available.

• Following an extensive consultation process, the Human Rights Commission is now releasing the second Free + Equal Position Paper outlining a proposal for an Australian Human Rights Act. It is being launched at an in person and virtual event on Tuesday, 7 March 2023, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm AEDT.

• The National Aboriginal Child Safety and Domestic Violence Summit 2023: Strong Families, Safer Children is being held on 29-31 March 2023 in Adelaide and will bring together guest speakers to stimulate new and innovative pathways to address the national issue of child safety, domestic and Aboriginal family violence across Australia.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar AO has issued a ‘save the date’ for the Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices) First Nations Women and Girls National Summit. It will be held on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country (Canberra) from 9-11 May 2023, with a Youth Forum on 8 May 2023.

Resources and Guidelines

• WESNET has been working with Tinder Australia to create a Dating Safety Guide that will help survivors and the general population with learning about the safety features available in the Tinder Dating App.

• The Fair Work Ombudsman has developed a number of resources aimed at helping workplaces access and support this leave including: comprehensive website information on the leave entitlements, including hypothetical examples to show the leave in practice; updated resources including the Employer Guide to family and domestic violence and a new Family and domestic violence leave fact sheet.

• Our Watch’s latest resource - the Prevention toolkit for local government - shows the key role that local government across Australia can play in preventing violence against women.  

• The Respect@Work Council has published new guidelines on the use of confidentiality clauses in settling workplace sexual harassment cases, and good practice indicators to assist organisations to address workplace sexual harassment. Both sets of guidelines have been published on the Respect@Work website.

• The Human Rights Commission, in collaboration with the Department of Treaties and Law (DTL) at the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has released an eLearning module about human rights in the context of emergencies which is available in both Lao and English.

Training and Education

• WESNET is offering technology safety training for SADFV professionals, for dates and training descriptions please visit https://techsafety.org.au/training.

• Applications are now open to study the Graduate Certificate in Domestic & Family Violence at RMIT University in 2023. Co-designed with a sector advisory committee, and a recognised qualification in the Victorian family violence sector - this Graduate Certificate is open to people who either have: 5-years relevant work experience, or an undergraduate degree.

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*Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA or WESNET 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.

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.