FAMILY VIOLENCE
- AUSTRALIA SAYS NO!

WHAT IS FAMILY VIOLENCE?

Family violence and abuse is a serious and deeply entrenched problem in Australia. It has significant impacts upon the lives of men, women and children. It knows no boundaries of gender, geography, socio-economic status, age, ability, sexual preference, culture, race or religion. Domestic violence (also known as intimate partner violence or IPV), and most elder abuse, child abuse and sexual abuse are all different forms of family violence. Thankfully reducing family violence against women and children has been firmly on the agendas of government for many years. Now is the time to move to the next, more sophisticated stage of tackling the problem: recognising men as victims as well.

AT LEAST ONE IN THREE VICTIMS ARE MALE

Contrary to common beliefs, up to One in Three victims of sexual assault and at least One in Three victims of family violence and abuse is male1 (perhaps as many as one in two - see our overview of research page). While many services have quite rightly been established over the past four decades to support female victims of family violence, the needs of male victims remain largely unmet. Historically government policies have been based on the assumption that the vast majority of perpetrators are male and the vast majority of victims are female, and the policies of current governments are still based on this erroneous position. Indeed, regretfully, the National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children did not include male victims in their otherwise laudable March 2009 recommendations which have been enthusiastically supported by the federal government. Now is the time for action by politicians and community leaders to recognise that a comprehensive approach is required to combat the scourge of family violence.

REDUCING FAMILY VIOLENCE

Family violence and abuse can never be excused or justified, however, in order to reduce the levels of violence in the family, we must seek to understand the causes and contexts that give rise to it. We need to address the complexities of violence. All victims need compassionate and highly responsive support, and all perpetrators need services to help them stop their use of violence and abuse. Dysfunctional relationships in which both partners use violence need to be supported to change, as it is these environments which are clearly the most harmful to children.

THE ONE IN THREE CAMPAIGN

The One in Three Campaign aims to raise public awareness of the existence and needs of male victims of family violence and abuse; to work with government and non-government services alike to provide assistance to male victims; and to reduce the incidence and impacts of family violence on Australian men, women and children.

SUBMISSION TO THE NSW LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL’S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TRENDS AND ISSUES IN NSW (INQUIRY)

The One in Three Campaign has lodged its submission to the NSW Legislative Council’s Domestic violence trends and issues in NSW (Inquiry).

To summarise the main points in the submission:

• The existence of male victims and female perpetrators needs to be acknowledged by government legislation, policy and programs.
• The provision of perpetrator programs needs to be statewide. Community health counselling services are the logical provider.
• The psychosocial counselling needs of perpetrators must be met. This is rarely the case in groups based on the Duluth model.
• We would recommend the use of GPS bracelets only in such (rare) cases where the evidentiary basis for an ADVO is sufficient.
• Domestic and family violence policy needs to recognise all victims and perpetrators, including children, carers and extended family members.
• Gender-profiling of offenders and victims in legislation must be removed.
• The assistance and accountability of police services needs to be improved.
• The NSW Health domestic violence screening tool should be expanded to include men as well as women.

You can read the full submission here (PDF).

SUBMISSION TO FAMILY VIOLENCE BILL 2010

The One in Three Campaign has lodged its submission with the Attorney General's department in response to the proposed Family Violence Bill 2010. The submission urges the Government to abandon the proposed changes to the Family Law Act and to commission an open and transparent public inquiry into the 2006 amendments, and any further changes that are needed to improve Family Law for all Australians. Should the proposed changes regrettably proceed, the Government is urged to revise the proposed definition of family violence so that it retains the “reasonableness clause” and contains the central idea of dominating or controlling another family member. You can read the submission here (PDF).

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1 Much international research demonstrates that women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners. For a bibliography examining 275 scholarly investigations with an aggregate sample size exceeding 365,000 see http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm

* 'Fryingpan' photograph supplied by Men's Rights Agency