Labor's Michelle O'Byrne says PFVO review 'entirely appropriate'
By Jess Flint
Posted to The Advocate online 15/03/23 – 6:34pm
Calls for a review into the application of Police Family Violence Orders (PFVO) have grown in response to concerns about the misidentification of family violence aggressors.
Family abuse survivor speaks out about Police Family Violence Orders
By Jess Flint
Posted to The Advocate online, 14/03/24 – 4:30pm (Updated 15/03/23)
Engender Equality released a report that explores the phenomenon of misidentification of predominant aggressors in Tasmania – put simply, this refers to incidents where a victim of abuse may be incorrectly identified as the perpetrator.
Contributing factors to misidentification may include instances where aggression was displayed as a response to abuse in retaliation, frustration, or self-defence.
The report noted that Tasmanian Police have the ability to issue on-the-spot PFVOs of up to 12 months. In other Australian jurisdictions, on-the-spot orders are temporary and last between 24 hours and 28 days.
Police family violence orders are supposed to keep victims safe
By Hayley Gleeson
Posted by ABC News online 05/03/23 – 5:00am (Updated 05/03/23 – 10:51am)
For years domestic violence workers around Australia have been warning of a growing misidentification crisis: of mounting cases where police have mistaken the victim for the perpetrator and taken out an intervention order against them or charged them with criminal offences. Often it’s because female victims have presented as “hostile” or “hysterical” — or because they’ve fought back or defended themselves — and police haven’t gathered all the facts, or dug into the couple’s history of coercive control, or realised an abuser is trying to manipulate the system.
Woman living with autism is accused of being the aggressor
By Peter Vincent
Posted to Daily Mail Australia online 05/03/23 – 16:50 (Updated 05/03/23 15:24)
A woman living with autism phoned police for help after she was assaulted by her partner before she was mistakenly identified as the aggressor. Anna* was heaped with the blame despite her partner crushing her into a door at his home in southern Tasmania during an argument over money in 2021.
Her story comes after a report was released this week showing people who were mistakenly identified as aggressors were struggling to have their names cleared.
Submission to the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 - June 2023
Engender Equality is Tasmania’s statewide specialist family violence service, providing frontline counselling and support to all people affected by family violence and abuse, alongside advocacy, community education and training to address gender inequality and gendered violence in all its forms. Established in 1987, we are a Tasmanian leader in promoting gender equality and addressing family violence to benefit the whole community. We welcome the opportunity to comment on the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023.
Joint submission on the Family Violence Reforms Bill 2021
Engender Equality provides specialist counselling, psychoeducation and support for individuals and groups affected by family violence throughout Tasmania, together with advocacy and training to address gender inequality and reduce violence against women and children.
Yemaya Women’s Support Service provides free and confidential counselling and support to women who are experiencing, or have experienced, abuse from an intimate partner. Together, we welcome the opportunity to provide a submission on the draft Family Violence Reforms Bill (the Bill).
Comments on the Sentencing Amendment (Restorative Scheme) Bill 2021
Engender Equality is a Tasmanian specialist family violence service providing counselling, psychoeducation and support for all people affected by family and intimate partner violence, alongside advocacy, community education and training to address gender inequality and gendered violence in all its forms. We welcome the opportunity to comment on the Sentencing Amendment (Restorative Scheme) Bill 2021 (the Bill).
Submission on the Child Safe Organisations Bill 2020
Engender Equality provides specialist counselling, psychoeducation and support for individuals and groups affected by family violence throughout Tasmania. Engender also delivers advocacy and training to address gender inequality and reduce violence against women and children. The safety and wellbeing of children is at the heart of our work as a specialist family violence service. Our practice is child-centred and we seek to elevate the interests of children in all that we do. Engender Equality strongly endorses the development of a legislative framework to uphold children’s safety in response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (the Royal Commission).
Submission to the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Family Law System - December, 2019
Children living in family violence situations are directly subjected to, and live within, the web of abuse woven by the dynamics of control and coercion maintained by people who use violence and abuse. A pattern of behaviour and coercively controlling tactics underpin the more obvious incidents of family violence that are widely referred to in legislation and policy. The same course of conduct often continues post-separation despite women trying to address their fears for this in the family law court.
Submission to the Department of the Attorney General on the Religious Discrimination Bill 2019 - October, 2019
Engender Equality is a highly specialised service provider that helps people of all genders through experiences of family violence, and seeks to provide training, advocacy opportunities, and contribute to the conversation around the prevention of family violence and gender inequality. Engender Equality is an accredited Our Watch training provider, and has run training on the national framework for the prevention of violence against women, Change the Story.
It is because of Engender Equality’s specialisation in primary prevention of violence against women that the organisation opposes aspects of the Religious Freedom Reforms. It is Engender Equality’s belief that the proposed legislative changes will undermine the national primary prevention framework and allow for individuals and groups to condone gendered violence (directly and indirectly), and impact negatively upon our ability to affect change for our service users. Engender Equality recommends, in particular, the exemption to Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 Section 17(1) be removed from the proposed legislation.