Submission

In many ways the draft Strategy achieves its objectives in reflecting critical life domains in which women’s experiences are far from equal – in relation to safety and economic security, for example. In our assessment, however, it falls short of translating these objectives into realisable outcomes for the women we know and work alongside across Tasmanian communities.

Engender Equality stands with the Tasmanian specialist family violence sector in support of the Criminal Code Amendment Bill 2022 (the Bill).  

We welcome with particular enthusiasm the introduction of strangulation as a stand-alone criminal offence in Tasmania. This new offence allows the Tasmanian criminal-justice system to prosecute acts of strangulation, choking and suffocation in a manner that is commensurate with the severe physical and psychological harm they effect. We acknowledge with gratitude the tireless work of family violence survivor and Engender Equality Advocate Deborah Thomson in campaigning for this meaningful legislative reform. 

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).

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).

Engender Equality calls for an adequate understanding of the role that organisational culture plays in enabling child sexual abuse in institutional settings and proposes that hierarchical allocation of power within bureaucratic systems reduces the opportunities for individual accountability, with the result of diminished transparency. Our submission has been researched and written by Dr Morag MacSween and is informed by over three decades of experience as a service provider, advocacy organisation and strategic partner in the Tasmanian family and sexual violence sectors.

Developed in conjunction with Dr Morag MacSween, our submission to the Royal Commission focuses on the experience of people with disability in relation to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation caused by family and relationship violence. This intersection is too often invisible in public debate.

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).

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.

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.

Given Engender Equality’s specialisation in working with women and families who have experienced family violence, this submission is informed by their experiences. This submission is also guided by the work we do in our Advocates for Change program. In partnership with Our Watch, Engender Equality coordinates Advocates for Change, a group of women who have experienced violence and abuse who, after comprehensive training, are supported to speak to the media about their experiences.