Domestic Violence - it can happen to anyone

Destroy the Joint, 4 July 2016

Excerpt from NSW Government booklet D O M E S T I C  V I O L E N C E – IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE:

Domestic violence takes many forms. It involves violent, abusive or intimidating behaviour carried out by a partner, carer, friend or family member, boyfriend or girlfriend, to control, dominate, humiliate or instil fear.

A person does not need to be married for it to be considered ‘domestic and family violence’.

A person does not need to experience all of these types of abuse for it to be considered domestic or family violence.

Domestic and family violence can include (but is not limited to) the following types of abuse:

Psychological

» driving dangerously » destruction of property

» abuse of pets in front of family members

» making threats regarding custody of any children » asserting that the police and justice system will not assist, support or believe the victim

» threatening to ‘out’ the person. Emotional

» blaming the victim for all problems in the relationship

» constantly comparing the victim with others to undermine self-esteem and self-worth

» sporadic sulking

» withdrawing all interest and engagement (for example weeks of silence)

» emotional blackmail and suicidal threats.

Social

» systematic isolation from family and friends through techniques such as ongoing rudeness to family and friends to alienate them

» instigating and controlling the move to a location where the victim has no established social circle or employment opportunities

» restricting use of the car or telephone

» forbidding or physically preventing the victim from going out and meeting people.

Financial

» forbidding access to bank accounts

» providing only an inadequate ‘allowance’

» not allowing the victim to seek or hold employment

» coercing to sign documents or make false declarations

» using all wages earned by the victim for household expenses

» controlling the victim’s pension

» denying that the victim has an entitlement to joint property.

Physical

» direct assault on the body (strangulation or choking, shaking, eye injuries, biting, slapping, pushing, spitting, punching, or kicking)

» use of weapons including objects

» assault of children

» locking the victim in or out of the house

» forcing the victim to take drugs, withholding medication, food or medical care

» sleep deprivation.

Verbal

» swearing and continual humiliation, either in private or in public

» attacks following clear themes that focus on intelligence, sexuality, body image and capacity as a parent and spouse.

Sexual

» any form of pressured/unwanted sex or sexual degradation by an intimate partner or ex-partner, such as sexual activity without consent

» causing pain during sex

» assaulting genitals

» coercive sex without protection against pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease

» making the victim perform sexual acts unwillingly (including taking or distributing explicit photos without their consent)

» criticising or using sexually degrading insults.

Harassment and stalking

» following and watching

» telephone and online harassment

» tracking with Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

» being intimidating.

Read the full booklet here.

Counting Dead Women 2016: violent death toll reaches 23

Destroy the Joint list of dead women up to 14 April 2016

One violent death every five days

With rates of domestic violence & sexual assault higher than the NSW average, the Northern Rivers region remains a target for federal funding cuts

The geographic area of the Northern NSW Local Health District extends from the Tweed Local Government Area (LGA) on the Queensland/NSW border in the north to the Clarence Valley LGA in the south, the Great Dividing Range in the west and the Pacific Ocean coastline in the east. The Northern NSW LHD covers a geographic region of 21,470 square kilometres with a total population in 2011 of 288,241 persons and is made up of seven LGAs and one smaller State Suburb (SSC). [Northern NSW LHD, Fact Sheet 1, July 2015]

This health district population was projected to reach over 300,000 in 2016.

One of the health issues it deals with is domestic and family violence, as do the local courts.

Between October 2014 to September 2015 in NSW the rate of domestic assault incidents per 100,000 head of population was 398.7.

For the corresponding period in the Northern NSW LHD the domestic assault rate was:

Richmond Valley Local Government Area – 550.6

Lismore Local Government Area – 478.8

Clarence Valley Local Government Area – 426.5

Tweed Local Government Area – 401.7

Kyogle Local Government Area – 399.0

Byron Local Government Area – 313.3

Ballina Local Government Area – 246.3

All but two local government areas were above the state average – four were significantly higher.

Five out of seven of these local government areas also exceeded the NSW rate for sexual offence incidents – Richmond Valley, Lismore, Clarence Valley, Byron and Ballina.

Yet this region remains a target for Abbott-Turnbull Government cuts to services used by victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

The Northern Star reported on 8 April 2016:

SHADOW Attorney General Mark Dreyfus and Labor candidate for Page Janelle have backed the Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre's plea to have funding cuts to programs aimed at preventing domestic violence reversed.

They said the Federal Government had announced a third, or $30 million, of commonwealth funding would be cut to the 39 Community Legal Centres around the state as well as the scrapping of $100,000 per year in funding to the Lismore centre, introduced by Mr Dreyfus in 2013.

Mr Dreyfus said the cuts could mean the end of the Lismore-based centre's outreach service in Casino, as well as the possible closure of the Tweed office and the loss of a specialised family violence solicitor.

Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre acting centre manager Fia Norton said it was the biggest challenge in the centre's 20-year history.

"They're (the cuts) going to affect the most vulnerable people in our community," she said……

Ms Saffin said she was concerned the federal funding cuts would impact complimentary services to the State Government's Safer Pathways domestic violence program, a service NRCLS was selected to coordinate in Tweed in 2015.

"Last year the Northern Rivers CLC was selected by the NSW Government as one of five sites to roll out the Safer Pathways reforms for Domestic Violence, an integrated response service to prevent domestic violence deaths and serious injury to women and children," she said.

"But how will the program be impacted when cuts come into effect next year?.....

The cuts are set to come into effect in mid-2017.

Counting Dead Women In April 2016 - averaging a violent death each week of someone's daughter, sister, aunt, mother

Posted 16 April 2016 on Destroy the Joint and sadly probably already out of date

One woman dying a violent death every six days in Australian 2016

Destroy the Joint, 14 March 2016

Counting Dead Women in Australia 2016

Destroy the Joint, 20 February 2016

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is not the Minister For Women - he is the Minister for Violent Men

Destroy the Joint tally as of 12 May 2015

After cutting $30 million from affordable housing and crisis housing services in late 2014, only extending the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness which helps fund domestic violence refuges for another two years, then calling the rate of violence against women an "epidemic" in March 2015, the self-appointed federal Minister for Women Tony Abbott cannot be surprised at these reactions to his paltry effort in the 2015-16 Budget.

The Sydney Morning Herald 13 May 2015:

A partially-funded awareness campaign was the only domestic violence measure announced in the federal budget, leaving frontline workers aghast at critical funding gaps.

Not one out of nine crucial funding areas identified by family violence experts in a pre-budget report was filled, said Renee Carr, executive director of Fair Agenda, a community organisation that consulted a dozen experts to determine what budget funding was required to address the issue.

The only announcement was a $30 million awareness campaign, to which the federal government offered $16.7 million.

Crisis and counselling hotlines, men's behaviour programs, community legal centres, primary prevention initiatives and services for indigenous or culturally diverse communities were ignored.

Treasurer Joe Hockey said on Wednesday morning that there would be more announcements in the coming weeks but Ms Carr said Tuesday night was a chance for the government to put domestic violence front and centre after recognising that it had become a national epidemic.

"Last night was a test of the government's commitment to dealing with Australia's domestic violence crisis, and it's a test they failed," she said.

"Instead, we heard no new announcements of funding to tackle this issue."

In 2013-4, 423 people were turned away from homelessness agencies every night, many of them women escaping violence. In the same year, 150,000 people were turned away from receiving legal help through community legal centres, Fair Agenda's report said. 

Last year, 18,631 phone calls to the national hotline 1800RESPECT went unanswered. Domestic and Family Violence Crisis Lines Australia also expects demand to grow 40 per cent in the next year.

Karen Willis, executive officer of Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia, which administers 1800RESPECT, said they required an extra $2 million to ensure one in four calls don't go unanswered.....

Fair Agenda:

Analysis of the budget announcement shows (as at 14 May 2015):

* 1800 RESPECT – received no additional funding in the budget

* Community legal centres – had no additional funding provided in the budget; and with cuts in the funding model in some jurisdictions, and cuts made in the forward estimates (from mid 2017), NACLC expect turn aways from Community Legal Centres will get worse.

* Family Violence Prevention Legal Services – received no additional funding in the budget

* Homelessness – received the previously announced $230 million to extend the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness. This doesn't include indexation which means a real cut to services of $12.58 million (over the current year and two years of extension). Services can't meet the increasing demand without sufficient and fair increases, so we can expect more women will be turned away unless this is rectified.

* Men’s behavior change programs – received no new funding

* Primary prevention – no additional investment in strategies for primary prevention. Unless that becomes the focus of the still to be defined national awareness campaign. Regardless, investment is still vastly inadequate.

* Family & relationship services – it’s unclear if any additional funding has been provided for these services.

*Services for culturally and linguistically diverse communities – it’s unclear if any additional funding has been provided.

Destroy the Joint is counting dead women - Part Five

Destroy The Joint

Since 1 January 2015 thirty-three women have died in violent incidents. That equates to two women killed each week so far this year.

Destroy The Joint keeps a register of these deaths here.

This is the latest death.

NSW Police media release 26 April 2015:

Man charged following alleged domestic-violence related murder - Brewarrina

Sunday, 26 April 2015 01:19:56 PM

A man has been charged with murder following an alleged domestic violence incident in Brewarrina yesterday afternoon.

About 5.45pm (Saturday 25 April 2015), police from Darling River Local Area Command were called to a Byron Street home where they found a woman suffering serious injuries.

Additional emergency services were called to assist but the woman, aged 18, died at the scene.

A crime scene was established and investigated by specialist forensic officers

A 22-year-old man was arrested at the scene and taken to Brewarrina Police Station where he was charged with murder and three outstanding warrants.

He was refused bail and is due to appear at Bourke Local Court tomorrow (Monday 27 April 2015).

Police from Darling River Local Area Command, with the assistance of neighbouring commands have established Strike Force Goninan to investigate the matter.

Initial investigations suggest the incident was domestic violence related.
                                         

Destroy the Joint is counting dead women - Part Four

Destroy The Joint

Since 1 January 2015 thirty-one women have died in violent incidents. That equates to two women killed each week so far this year.

Destroy The Joint keeps a register of these deaths here.

Destroy The Joint is counting dead women - Part Three

      

Destroy The Joint

Since 1 January 2015 twenty-eight women have died in violent incidents. That equates to two women killed each week so far this year.

Destroy The Joint keeps a register of these deaths here.

Moss Report contains damming evidence concerning Australia's offshore regional processing centre in Nauru

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s cold-hearted response on 20 March 2015 to this distressing report:

"Occasionally, I dare say, things happen. Because in any institution you get things that, occasionally, aren't perfect…"

Review into recent allegations relating to conditions and circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre i...

Destroy the Joint is counting dead women - Part Two

As of 2 March 2015 two women were killed by violence every week this year in Australia.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/destroy-the-joint/counting-dead-women-australia-2015/839061602808252

NSW Baird Coalition Government has blood on its hands

With rigid, far right ideology dominating the shrivelled souls within the Liberal and National political parties at federal and state levels in Australia today, it is a hard time to be a woman or girl-child.

Hannah* is one of the 17 women who died by violence in the first nine weeks of this year…….

The Guardian 9 March 2015:

Alex had always been dangerously jealous. If another man so much as greeted his wife, Hannah, Alex was prone to physically attacking them – and her. Once, on a holiday to the Gold Coast, Alex punched Hannah in the head, because of the way a friend’s husband had looked at her.

In the final months of their marriage, Alex developed a sinister fetish. The routine was the same every time: Alex would pin Hannah to the ground and choke her until she was almost unconscious, then cover her face with a blanket and jump on her body.

Convinced that Alex was preparing for her murder, Hannah summoned the courage to leave him. She knew she’d need protection from him, so she tried to get into a women’s refuge. But like many women fleeing domestic violence, Hannah was told there were no beds available, so she was given vouchers for a hotel in Kings Cross.

But Hannah was too afraid to be on her own. After a few nights in the hotel, she went to her friend’s place and tried calling the refuges again. Hannah called refuges across Sydney and nearby regional cities more than 10 times. But there was nowhere that could help her.

In the final months of last year, as Hannah was trying to find somewhere to stay, the women’s refuge system in New South Wales was in disarray. The state government had just completed a radical reform of its homelessness sector, putting all its services out to tender for the first time in 25 years. Women’s refuges were told they couldn’t just reapply for their own service – if they wanted to retain their refuges, they would have to show they could provide multiple services to all homeless people in their area. Services would no longer be exclusively for victims of domestic violence – they’d now have to cater to all types of homelessness….

Back in the city, Hannah’s efforts to find protection in a refuge were all in vain. She took an apprehended violence order out against Alex, in the hope that would keep him away from her. Earlier this year, Hannah was found dead. Alex is now awaiting trial….

*Hannah and Alex’s names have been changed

Destroy the Joint is counting dead women