MEDIA RELEASE
11 March 2026
CALL FOR TASMANIA TO TRANSFORM THE SYSTEMS THAT CONDONE AND ENABLE VIOLENCE – NO TO VIOLENCE NATIONAL CONFERENCE, HOBART
CEO, Alina Thomas will lay down the gauntlet tomorrow to Tasmanian institutions saying systems are built on social norms that privilege male dominance and female compliance.
Speaking tomorrow at the 2026 National Conference: Ending Men’s Family Violence: From local practice to national strategy, the CEO of Tasmania’s specialist family violence organisation, Engender Equality said,
“If we are serious about addressing gender-based violence, we must examine the actions of individual people who use violence alongside the institutional ecosystems that enable and sustain harm.
“Systems that claim impartiality while ignoring structural power dynamics may inadvertently reinforce those dynamics of inequality.
“Transforming institutional responses therefore requires honesty, and sustained commitment.
“It requires listening to victim-survivors, following the leadership of specialist services, and confronting the structural biases embedded within our systems.
“Ultimately, we need to eliminate men’s violence, but we will not do this until we are willing to redesign the system that condones and enables the violence.
“If we want different outcomes, we must be willing to design different systems,” Ms Thomas said.
Ms Thomas spoke to Engender’s latest publication entitled Systems abuse, patriarchy, and the institutional production of harm which explores how institutional responses to intimate partner violence can inadvertently produce harm. It outlines three interrelated forms of institutional involvement in abuse: systems abuse, systemic harm, and systemic collusion. It also situates these dynamics within the broader framework of patriarchal social structures and argues for systemic reform grounded in gender equity, relational accountability, and victim-survivor expertise.
If you would like to engage a lived experience representative (case study), please see Advocates for Change – Engender Equality, email advocates@engenderequality.org.au or phone: 0415 740 524.
Ends.
Media Contact: Alina Thomas 0438 788 291
EXAMPLES
- Police identifying discrete incidents of violence instead of ongoing patterns of coercive behaviour
- With a significant proportion of male police officers reporting having used violence in their own intimate relationships, complex questions arise about whether institutional culture and accountability can protect women
- Legal systems frequently require victim-survivors to provide extensive proof while people using violence benefit from institutional caution
- Child protection systems sometimes interpret mothers’ inability to avoid violence as “failure to protect”, effectively penalising victim-survivors rather than holding perpetrators accountable
- Family law processes may prioritise male parental contact over safety concerns, placing victim-survivors and children at continued risk.