Resources

Engender Equality asserts that the law should be used as a guide for behaviour and a tool for changing community attitudes towards gender inequality and family violence. This submission outlines Engender Equality's view point on the proposed Family Violence Reform Bill 2018

The impact of family violence is a much more solemn account than a homicide statistic. For many women in Tasmania, family violence is not a reportable event but a series of behaviours that promote intimidation and fear.

Women in abusive relationships often have limited ability to negotiate reproductive choices. A women may be forced by an abusive partner to have a pregnancy termination when she desired to continue the pregnancy. A woman in an abusive relationship may also be at risk of unplanned and unwanted pregnancy as a result of abusive acts. This submission outlines how women experiencing family violence may have limited ability to control their own reproductive lives.

Our services frequently extend to supporting people through the legal process; assistance that is in addition addressing the experience violence and abuse itself. It is our experience that the legal response can fail to adequately address the severity of the violence, the impact on children and the ongoing effects of trauma.

For gender equality to exist, we must recognise and actively challenge gender-based oppression.

Advancing gender equality is not just about including women’s participation. It will require systemic change within the structures and institutions that drive discrimination and inequality for all women.

The experience of family violence can impair children and young people’s physical functioning (including brain development), behaviour; emotions; cognitive development and social adjustment. The experience of family violence can have significant negative impact across the lifespan. Tasmanian children and young people affected by family and domestic violence need initiatives that aim to eradicate the primary drivers of family and domestic violence and break cycles of abusive or violent behaviour

This report shares narratives from women in our community who have experienced domestic and family violence. These stories are spoken with bravery, wisdom and freedom. Listening reveals the journey of women, as they reach out from behind control, isolation and manipulation for help and support. Each narrative shares a powerful piece of new evidence to help us create positive experiences and outcomes for those who follow.

The draft Bill proposes that national recognition of Domestic Violence Orders (DVOs) will ensure that the protection of persons who have taken out a DVO no longer ends once they leave the state the order was made in. It will also ensure that people needing the protection of DVOs do not have to bear the burden of registering the protective order whenever they enter new jurisdiction.

There is insufficient localised evidence available to adequately inform the design of mandatory treatment programs for sex offenders in Tasmania. Therefore, the development of new legislation and associated strategies will be based on the composite set of values and attitudes of the community, informing a model that has demonstrated success in comparable socio-environments.

The contextual experiences of long term abuse and the impact on the psychological wellbeing of women is an essential consideration to self-defence (and other protective mechanisms). The law needs to make provision for women who kill their partner when they believe that it is the only option available to them to protect themselves or their children.

Consideration needs to be given to systems of power and oppression and how they impact on women’s experiences of violence. To do this effectively, an intersectional approach must be taken, wherein gender is recognized as only one aspect of many identities via which women experience oppression and disempowerment. If the Action Plan fails to appreciate and address the ways in which different types of oppression impact on women’s experience of violence, then it will be failing the women in our community who are already the most disempowered.

The current Child Support system is failing to adequately provide policies and processes that address domestic and family violence therefore women who have experienced such violence may not receive the specialised services that they require. Women who have experienced domestic or family violence are often uncomfortable self-identifying as a victim or asking for special assistance. Their own safety and wellbeing, and that of their children, is typically their priority, often to the detriment of their financial security, which may lead to reluctance in pursuing options that risk exacerbating an already dangerous situation.