Chapter 5Acknowledging and responding to the crisis
5.1Amnesty International submitted that the ‘alarming’ statistics for missing and murdered First Nations women and children are ‘no surprise to Aboriginal and Torres [Strait] Islander communities who have dealt with this silent national crisis for a long time’. However, Australian governments and the broader community are yet to acknowledge that there is a crisis.
5.2Dr Hannah McGlade, a Noongar woman and member of the United Nations’ Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, has similarly stated: ‘it’s really time for Australia to take this issue seriously and take the blinkers off and start valuing the lives of Aboriginal women and girls of this country’.
5.3Many submitters and witnesses argued that it would be incorrect to speak of violence against First Nations women and children, as though this violence were ‘a new issue’:
There must be recognition of First Nations peoples’ experiences of structural violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation perpetrated by state actors through harmful and racist government policies and practices since invasion and the compounding and intergenerational trauma and harm due to governments’ continuing action, inaction or insufficient action.
5.4Adjunct Professor Muriel Bamblett AO, Adviser to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council, stressed the importance of understanding, acknowledging and accounting for historical policies and actions:
It is important that this inquiry highlight and raise awareness of how historical policies and actions have led us to where we are now. We need to continually frame current policy and action against the background of enduring and widespread disadvantage imposed on our people that impacts on women's and children's lives every day.
5.5Professor Larissa Behrendt AO, Professor of Law and Director of Research, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research (Jumbunna), agreed that the historical context is inextricably linked to the current crisis, which is symbolised by the murder and disappearance of three children in Bowraville (the Bowraville murders):
You can't look at this issue without looking at the historical relationship between the police and the legal system and First Nations people. You can't disassociate the role the law played in dispossessing Aboriginal people and in regulating their lives through various pieces of legislation, which included removing Aboriginal children, all as an ongoing process of colonisation. You can't point to a time when that process was ended; in that sense, there's no post-colonial period.
5.6In relation to First Nations women and children, this chapter discusses:
recognition and portrayal;
honouring and commemorating loved ones; and
effecting change and responses to violence.
Recognition and portrayal
5.7Many submitters and witnesses remarked on the disparity in mainstream media coverage of violence against First Nations women and children, compared to their non‑Indigenous counterparts. Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) provided the following commonly cited example:
…when William Tyrell went missing in 2014 and Cleo Smith disappeared in 2021, those stories dominated news coverage for weeks. William Tyrell’s case has continued to cycle back through news feeds through the years, with the investigation into his disappearance continuing with significant resources today. Cleo Smith, through widespread pleas to the community, a dedicated police force, and a $1 million reward, was located 18 days after her disappearance.
On the other hand, the disappearances of First Nations children garner only a fraction of the media coverage of non-Indigenous children. In 2013, a10‑month old First Nations boy…was abducted and murdered in Western Australia. His abduction and his family’s journey for justice have received very little police commitment. The family is still waiting for the government’s commitment to a public inquest. Similarly, the murders of three First Nations children in Bowraville in 1991 evidence a lack of urgency in media coverage and police response and the [case] remains unsolved today.
5.8Stakeholders argued that the way in which the mainstream media fails to report cases of missing and murdered First Nations women and children demonstrates a broader lack of regard for their well-being and lives.
5.9The Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjayjara (NPY) Women’s Council Chairperson Kunmanara Smith said: ‘when a white woman is murdered this becomes breaking news, but when an Anangu woman disappears it is “news, wiya” (no news)’.
5.10The Victorian Commission for Children and Young People submitted that this ‘double standard severely undermines the value of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children’.
5.11Submitters and witnesses also remarked on the content of any mainstream media coverage. The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) commented that victim‑blaming has long been a feature of the reporting. VALS highlighted the 1975 case of a murdered 28-year old First Nations woman, who was reported to be a sex worker which had the effect of minimising the culpability of the accused:
…no one was ever found guilty of [the] murder despite a substantial amount of evidence, and the trial for [the woman’s] murder was vacated after the presiding judge unilaterally decided that on the evidence available the man accused…could not be found guilty.
5.12Dr Amy McQuire argued that the mainstream media reiterates, without question, the information provided by police, which compromises both outcomes and the quality of the investigation:
If they went to Bowraville when [one 16-year old girl] went missing and they asked the police then, 'What are you doing to search for her? What are you doing to find her? Where's the search and rescue?', I think we would be facing a very different situation today. The community wouldn't have had to deal with this for three decades...I think, at the very integral beginning of an investigation, the media have to be there and questioning the police—not viewing the police as the primary informant, but questioning them at every point.
5.13The North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service (NAAFLS) similarly emphasised that media coverage can significantly affect an investigation, including by progressing efforts to locate a missing person:
When Aboriginal women are erased from the media, efforts to mobilise an investigation and search-party all but fails…[T]he devastating failures of police and media were highlighted in the SBS Documentary ‘Vanished’: thecrucial window of time to locate [two First Nations women] was lost as police did not initiate their search and there was no media coverage to alert locals. We note in contrast the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty – a white man – garnered national and international media coverage. The media had an extensive campaign for the “colourful character from the tiny NT town”, with podcasts and documentaries about his disappearance.
5.14Professor Behrendt concurred that there is an ‘important link between being seen in the media and getting justice’, with community outrage and interest motivating police and the allocation of resources:
You can look at specific, even quite contemporary, cases where the response of the community has meant a higher profile on the cases, which has meant a higher allocation of public resources towards the solving of those cases. Part of that higher role that the media play in highlighting a case is also to find witnesses and bring people forward…[T]he way in which the attention and resources follow the media attention also sends very strong messages to the community about who as a victim matters and who doesn't.
5.15The Partnership for Justice in Health submitted that the media has effectively pathologised First Nations people:
...our peoples are often framed through deficit narratives which place us as the problem, as deserving of violence, or immorally depicting violence as inherent to our cultures. There is rarely public outrage or outcry in response to the devastating experiences of our women and children.
5.16Dr McQuire, Sisters Inside and the Institute for Collaborative Race Research submitted that this pathologisation has depicted First Nations women only as victims, curtailing and denying them the ability to speak of their strength and resilience:
When Aboriginal women are given room to speak on violence, it is often only through a discourse of pathologisation in which Black communities – and particularly Black men – are viewed as innately violent. This is the ‘acceptable’ discourse that is most palatable to white agendas and white witnesses. As silence operates by replacing one discourse with another, this pathologisation is powerful: it means that Aboriginal women are not able to speak of their strength or their resistance, but only of their wounds. Theevidence of these wounds must be shown in graphic imagery or in sensationalist wording.
5.17Professor Behrendt observed:
[A] big part of the problem is that it seems there's a sense amongst the mainstream media that the sensationalism about high crime rates and the danger of crime is a much more important story—and a bigger and more popular story—than the stories of victims, especially victims who don't meet a particular white racial stereotype.
5.18Dr McQuire indicated that independent, black media should be funded to report on First Nations matters: ‘that's the only way that we can actually speak about these issues the way they deserve to be spoken about’.
Role of the media
5.19The Australian National University’s Law Reform and Social Justice Research Hub argued that indifference to the death or disappearance of First Nations women is part of Australia’s colonial legacy, with the violence now normalised and reinforced by the mainstream media:
Indifference to violence against First Nations women has continued with the silence around the deaths and disappearances of First Nations women. Thehistoric normalisation of violence and exploitation of First Nations women has contributed to the media’s dehumanised portrayal of First Nations women, and necessarily also to Australia’s lax response to these tragedies.
5.20Dr McQuire argued that the dehumanisation of Aboriginal people and the media’s role in that process has resulted in a lack of recognition or silence around Aboriginal women and children being targeted for violence:
When stories like this happen, they have all of these news values that media will often use to cover a story, and, in the Bowraville case, we saw that they fundamentally saw these stories as not newsworthy. The reason for that is that they were Aboriginal children. That's what the Bowraville families have been saying for over the past three decades. Their deaths are not seen as newsworthy deaths, even though there was a suspected serial killer preying on Aboriginal children in one small street in a small New South Wales town.
5.21The Indigenous Law and Justice Hub at the University of Melbourne submitted:
The Australian public remain[s] deeply ignorant of racist, colonial and patriarchal violence. This is due to several reasons—among them including the opacity of police records, the whitewashing of Australian policing history, the indifference of the Australian mainstream media.
5.22Our Watch, a national leader in the primary prevention of violence against women and their children in Australia, advised that, by failing to report on and discuss the underlying causes of violence against First Nations women and children, the media has created a barrier to prevention efforts:
To effectively prevent violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, we need to properly understand and explain what causes or drives this violence. We can then ensure that we are ‘treating the cause, not the symptom’ by designing prevention strategies that directly address these deeper underlying issues. This fundamental principle — aligning strategies and actions with the specific underlying drivers of violence — is the essence of a prevention approach.
Too often, however, there is a lack of attention to the determinants of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. This is reflected in media reporting and public debate. Media coverage of violence can under-report violence against First Nations women, and when this violence is reported or discussed, there is sometimes limited recognition or consideration of the potential underlying causes or drivers of this violence, beyond pointing to alcohol and drug addiction, factors that are themselves frequently symptoms of a deeper issue. Thislimited analysis is a significant barrier to prevention efforts.
5.23The National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 (theNational Plan) acknowledges that every sector has a role to play in ending violence against First Nations women and children:
The media have a critical role in shaping how the community thinks and talks about violence against women. Currently, there is limited evidence‑based education for journalists on the drivers of violence or how to safely and ethically report it, either as part of their formal qualifications or on the job. News reports often reinforce community attitudes that condone or tolerate violence. However, the media can also work in a positive way to raise awareness of support services for victim-survivors and provide supportive messaging about holding those who choose to use violence accountable.
Media protocols
5.24The Queensland Family and Child Commission submitted that the media has an important role in ensuring that First Nations people have the same visibility as non-Indigenous people. To facilitate investigation efforts for murdered and disappeared women and children, it suggested the development of media protocols.
5.25The NPY Women’s Council emphasised the importance of having a story and that this story can be told in a culturally appropriate manner:
Moving forward with Anangu, it is important for her name and information to be told – the silence cannot continue. If names cannot be spoken on the news you can say “kumantye [surname]” or “kunmanara [surname]”. There are ways to tell these stories with respect, dignity and the recognition they deserve. To successfully share these stories there needs to be greater partnership and voice given to communities and Aboriginal controlled organisations in order to appropriately advise on what is needed for communities and families to heal after events such as these.
5.26The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), including National Indigenous Television (NITV), illustrated how issues relating to violence against First Nations women and children can be explored in depth and with appropriate sensitivity:
SBS and NITV have produced and published a wide range of news stories and programs which serve to ensure that the issues surrounding violence against First Nations women and children, are both prominent and presented from a First Nations perspective [for example, the documentary series Vanished, See what you made me do and We say no more].
5.27In 2019, Our Watch issued national guidelines to ensure that media reporting does not further harm victim-survivors and is part of the solution to end violence against women and their children (How to report on violence against women and their children, 2019 National Edition).
5.28Similarly, the Domestic Violence Legal Service and Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission noted that the Tangentyere Women’s Safety Group, Tangentyere Council and Galiwin’ku Women’s Space have collaborated to produce media guidelines suitable to the Northern Territory (Media Changing the Story – Media Guidelines for the Reporting of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence in the Northern Territory):
These guidelines aim to provide advice for news stations, media organisations and media professionals on how to report safely and ethically about domestic, family and sexual violence in the Northern Territory.
Honouring and commemorating loved ones
5.29The NPY Women’s Council highlighted that it is important to remember the First Nations women and children who have gone missing or been murdered. The effluxion of time does not diminish the memory of loved ones, as the Baramadagal Dharug Tribal Governing Council Aboriginal Corporation explained:
We descend from our apical ancestor Margaret “Peggy” Goldspink nee Reid, who was born in Parramatta/Baramada. The first record of Peggy’s life was created in 1820 when she was 8 years old, becoming the 34th child ‘admitted’ into Parramatta Native Institute where she was given her colonial name, she was later transferred to the Blacktown Native Institute before being entered into ‘domestic service’, an early form of slavery in the Colony.
Peggy was married at age 19, she had 13 children, and lived to the age of 85. There are numerous records created about Peggy which both confirm her Aboriginality and her birthplace of Parramatta/Baramada. However, we have no record of Peggy’s parents, on Peggy’s death certificate her parents are recorded as “unknown”.
In the mid-1990’s our family were informed by an Aboriginal researcher at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies that Peggy’s parents were murdered.
We maintain Peggy’s Mother/Wayanga remains among many of the early cases of missing and murdered First Nations Women, and specifically both Peggy and her Mother/Wayanga were victims of the most serious forms of State-sanctioned violence. We suspect Peggy had at least one sibling who also remains missing. If not for Peggy’s survival, any trace of Peggy’s Mother’s/Wayanga existence would have been completely erased from the memory of this place.
According to our old ways of being, we know that Peggy’s Mother/Wayanga was a Baramadagal woman. However, we do not know her name, the traditional names she gave her children, or the details of her life and death. She remains missing, and from what we understand, murdered. We make this submission, as a way to speak about our old ones who walked this sacred land before us, with the care, love, respect and remembrance they deserve.
Recognition and remembrance
5.30Some submitters argued that the first way to honour the memory of those who have been murdered or disappeared is to expose and render visible what has happened to them and other First Nations women and children over the generations. Carrie’s Place submitted that invisibility has prevented the women and children from being remembered, honoured and commemorated:
The deaths of many First Nations women have gone unnoticed and unheard of by the general public. In doing so, we have failed to publicly acknowledge the tragedy of their deaths and have missed an important opportunity to honour and commemorate their lives…We want our First Nations women and children to be respected and honoured, we want them to be mourned and not forgotten. We want them to be present and visible in the minds of all Australians. We want justice.
5.31The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)—and others—supported honouring and commemorating missing and murdered First Nations women and children, provided that this is done in ‘aculturally respectful and appropriate way’ and as determined by the families and their communities.
5.32The VALS highlighted that, in Aboriginal communities, the cultural practices that take place after someone's death (Sorry Business) vary:
There is no one specific way a person or community will conduct Sorry Business, just as there is no set timeframe for Sorry Business activities. Assuch, it is important that any commemoration scheme for missing and murdered First Nations women and children does not have limitations on when a person’s family can elect to have their loved one commemorated. Any commemoration activities must not limit a family’s ability to engage with cultural activities and grieve at their own pace or on their own terms.
5.33ALHR shared the view that First Nations families and communities must determine how their loved ones are to be remembered:
There is only one appropriate way to answer [the question of how to honour and commemorate loved ones] – consult with those that are affected by the decision. The ways that various First Nations communities will honour and commemorate their loved ones will differ immensely. Only by asking and listening will we uncover and understand the appropriate way to achievethis goal. Importantly, when ideas are shared, they should be heard, respected and implemented in the precise way that they are explained, with full commitment to the traditions, customs, practices and wishes of the families.
Some submitters suggested practical measures to honour and commemorate missing and murdered First Nations women and children: an honour roll or remembrance day, a dedicated awareness period or time of mourning, a fund for community remembrance events, and commemorative markers or other forms of memorial.
Personal impacts of grieving
5.34Several First Nations families and community representatives shared their lived experience with the committee, and highlighted the strength required to deal with the initial loss of a loved one and to persevere in the search for truth and justice (also see Chapter 3).
5.35Mrs Debbie Kilroy OAM, Chief Executive Officer of Sisters Inside, said:
The strength and resilience displayed by the women's families who tirelessly seek their loved ones out without any institutional support is as inspiring as it is heartbreaking. Their journey is marred with immense pain and frustration as the very systems meant to protect and serve all citizens further perpetuate their suffering…The crisis of disappeared and murdered Aboriginal and Torres Strait women in Australia demands urgent action…We owe it to them and to the memory of these women who have disappeared to create a system that truly seeks justice and offers support, rather than one that perpetuates harm and neglect.
5.36This and other evidence drew attention to the need to support grieving and traumatised individuals. Ms Delphine Charles, for example, described one family’s intergenerational and ongoing pain:
Even the children who didn’t know Clinton are affected by his loss. Theyhave felt the grief of their parents, the families and the community. They feel helpless that they have not been able to help alleviate this. We have given them a legacy of sadness…because these murders haven’t been resolved.
…
Clinton’s mother would always be crying. She got no proper counselling and of course we didn’t know how to console her.She still feels her son is with her and plays music for him. For her, Clinton is still there and she will never get over his loss.
5.37Ms Patricia Edwards, Chairperson of the Bowraville Local Aboriginal Land Council, said:
…our community went through hell…32 years ago…The families are all torn apart. They're still going through hell. They're still going through grief …Our whole community was broken in two when that happened to our three children…[N]ot only the parents needed counselling; there were a lot of other people who needed counselling too in that community. Back then I was a preschool teacher, and I was…the little girl's teacher. Evelyn…spent most of her waking hours at preschool with us…[I]t really broke my heart. I, at that time, needed counselling too…It's very, very hard to speak about that.
5.38The First Nations Women’s Legal Service Queensland (FNWLSQ) submitted that there is an ‘[obvious] need for trauma counselling for families and loved ones of victims’. Jumbunna advised, however, that there is no such support available:
There is a distinct lack of mental health and social and emotional wellbeing support made available to grieving and justice-seeking families after the death of their loved one. Surviving families, often left without answers, are expected to go away and deal with the legacy of violence and often its continuation. Community controlled services are under-resourced for the scale of emotional, social and mental injury from this. They must be further resourced to actively care for mob who have been traumatised, not only from the act of violence, but from their painful experiences of the settler legal and policy systems that [attempt] to address it.
5.39Mr Malcom Brunton, a clinical psychologist, explained that many mental health specialists are apprehensive in this space, as they do not understand ‘the social, cultural and spiritual aspects of Aboriginal communities and how different they are and how similar they are’. He acknowledged that there is also some reluctance on the part of First Nations people to engage with these specialists with the perception being that the specialists ‘just don’t get it’.
5.40Ms Rachael Cavanagh suggested that, over the last 30–40 years, the heightened awareness of what causes trauma has not led to improvements. Her evidence highlighted funding concerns and, similar to Mr Brunton, workforce issues:
…it is because they're not looking at the root cause of anything; they're just looking at that bandaid fix of what you're presenting with. That's because services are at absolute capacity. There are not enough resources that are being delivered to the services that are actually doing the work. Then finding the right people to fit into those places is really difficult…Over my life I have gone to a number of different counselling or different sessions…[I]t's really hard to go into a room with a non-Indigenous [person] and try to talk to your ways of knowing and being. You just can't.
5.41Ms Tracey Singleton, Chief Executive Officer from the Galambila Aboriginal Health Service, pointed out that workers within support services are also part of the local community and can be deeply affected by trauma:
You can't switch off. You've already got trauma in your life…Our stories are not all the same, but there is trauma. Then you go into a community, or your own community, where you try to keep everything at an arm's length, then that vicarious trauma is layers upon layers again…If that's not recognised really quickly it could be quite damaging.
Systemic changes to eradicate violence
5.42Some submitters considered that loved ones should be honoured and commemorated by addressing the systemic causes of violence to ensure that no more First Nations women and children are murdered or disappeared. Change the Record and Djirra submitted:
The best way to ‘commemorate’ the many lives that have been lost is to bring about systemic and structural change so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, gender diverse people and children live free from violence.
5.43Jumbunna similarly stated:
…one clear desire [victims’] families had in commemorating them was change. We respectfully suggest that systemic change and governments making good on the recommendations of inquiries like these and others is one of the most crucial memorialisations within a settler government’s control.
5.44The VALS remarked that government is responsible for eradicating violence and ensuring the safety and lives of First Nations women and children, and should therefore not solely focus on remembrance initiatives:
…we must not focus efforts on honouring those who are victims…without also investing considerable resources into eradicating any form of violence against women and children. TheGovernment cannot diminish [its] responsibility to protect the safety and lives of Aboriginal women and children by simply investing in a commemoration platform for those who are missing and murdered.
Effecting change and responses to violence
5.45ALHR submitted that federal, state and territory governments employ a variety of ad hoc and inconsistent approaches to manage, reduce and prevent violence against First Nations women and children. Similar to the VALS, it argued that the Commonwealth government has primary responsibility in this space and should adopt a human rights-based approach (see Chapter 6):
Human rights–based frameworks are an anchor for engaging nation states in their responsibilities regarding violence against women, as enshrined in international instruments and agreements. While other stakeholders also need to play a part, the need (and obligation) for the state to take primary responsibility for this work is clear. These obligations are articulated in the United Nations conventions to which Australia is a signatory.
5.46The inquiry received information on various prevention measures, some of which are discussed in the following sections of this chapter, preceded by the overarching comments of First Nations women.
Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices) project
5.47In 2022, as part of theWiyi Yani U Thangani(Women’s Voices) project (seeChapter3), the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Ms June Oscar AO, hosted the Wiyi Yani U Thangani(Women’s Voices) First Nations Women’s Safety Policy Forum (Women’s Safety Policy Forum).
5.48The Women’s Safety and Policy Forum identified seven overarching factors that it considered essential to improve existing frameworks for the protection of First Nations women and children:
First Nations self-determination to guarantee that First Nations women lead in the development and delivery of a stand-alone plan, and inform the program, policy and legislative decisions that impact their lives, consistent with human rights, especially [the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People].
Elevating, embracing and designing specific engagement processes to include the voices of First Nations women, gender diverse people, and our families in all their diversity including our old people, our Stolen Generations, people living remotely, those with, and caring for people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+SG people, those in incarceration, and children in the juvenile detention or child protection system.
Centring the voices of First Nations children, especially girls who are at increased risk of sexual abuse in the development of the stand-alone plan to ensure specific child-centred actions, and to support community‑controlled organisations and other mainstream services to work effectively with children and families impacted by violence.
Grounding the plan in a human-rights based approach that recognises Australia’s obligations to the treaties it has ratified and endorsed.
Ensuring the plan takes a holistic culturally informed family-oriented approach to understand the drivers of violence and how all people are affected by violence and ensuring that men are not excluded, that they are included as part of the solutions, and that evidence-based perpetrator responses are developed and accessible.
Recognising all forms of intersectional discrimination as major drivers of violence, including but not limited to racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia.
Understanding and addressing the violence caused by individual, systemic and institutional racism, how racism is present within policies and legislation, and the particular effects it has on First Nations women and children in everyday life and when interacting with services, thepublic and when seeking help.
Changing the picture
5.49Our Watch aims to ‘drive nation-wide change in the culture, behaviours, attitudes and social structures that drive violence against women and their children’.
5.50Ms Patty Kinnersly, the Chief Executive Officer for Our Watch, explained that the organisation has specific structures and strategies to ensure a culturally appropriate and informed approach to First Nations people:
For example, there are three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of the Our Watch board, including our deputy chair. Written into our board charter is that our deputy chair will always be Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. We have established an internal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander steering committee, which provides insight and direction across all of our work. That is co-chaired by our most senior Aboriginal staff member.
5.51In 2018, Our Watch published its key national framework Changing the picture, part of which outlines a comprehensive set of prevention actions to address the underlying and intersecting drivers of violence against First Nations women and to support the prevention of this violence:
1: Address the legacies and ongoing impacts of colonisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities, through actions that:
Heal the impacts of intergenerational trauma, strengthening culture and identity
Strengthen and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families
Implement specific initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls, boys and men, and children and young people
Challenge the condoning of violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
Increase access to justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
2: Address the legacies and ongoing impacts of colonisation for non‑Indigenous people, and across Australian society, through actions that:
Challenge and prevent all forms of racism, indifference, ignorance and disrespect towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and cultures
Address racialised power inequalities and amend discriminatory policies and practices
Challenge the condoning of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
3: Address the gendered drivers of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, through actions that:
Implement intersectional approaches to preventing violence against women across the Australian population
Challenge the condoning of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women by challenging both racist and sexist attitudes and social norms
Support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women’s participation in leadership and decision making
Challenge gender stereotypes, and the impacts of colonisation on men’s and women’s roles, relationships and identities
Strengthen positive, equal and respectful relationships between women and men, girls and boys
Engage both Indigenous and non-Indigenous men to challenge harmful and violence supportive ideas about masculinity and relationships.
5.52The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Advisory Group, that guided the project, described Changing the picture as follows:
This resource is a way forward, a way of understanding the roots of this issue and discussing solutions that can keep our women and children safe‑holistic solutions that also work for our men and our children and young people. Solutions that break the cycle of violence and heal, support, strengthen and empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities.
Existing prevention initiatives
5.53Changing the picture provides examples of existing prevention initiatives around Australia. Our Watch cautioned that these examples have not been evaluated but are ‘promising’ and could possibly be adapted and applied in different contexts:
These examples acknowledge and highlight the work that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and communities, and some non‑Indigenous stakeholders, are already doing to address this issue — often with very limited resources.
5.54Ms Kinnersly emphasised that early intervention has not been well funded and she acknowledged that ‘primary prevention isn’t working quickly enough’:
At one level, Our Watch is well funded. We have $76 million in project funding over five years, but that's for five years and eight states. That $76 million comes to $2 million per state, per year or some such. It looks like a lot of money, but, actually, if we're going to do this work deeply, it requires a lot more investment of time and money. Particularly in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, if we're genuine about the work being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led, in partnership, where it's relevant, with a non-Aboriginal organisation, that takes even longer because we've got to build trust and start from scratch.
5.55ALHR concurred that, throughout Australia, there are culturally appropriate and community-controlled services, such as community policing:
Groups of elders and senior members of communities walk around remote communities, ‘keeping an eye on things’ and negotiating when disputes arise rather than the imposition of sanctions (such as arrest if police were to be involved). The patrollers have the cultural, community, and linguistic knowledge to de-escalate and resolve the issues in the community and strengthen community and family relationships. Some examples of night patrols include the Remote Area Night Patrol in Tangentyere, NT and the Yuendumu Women’s Night Patrol also in NT.
5.56Our Watch highlighted the Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation’s Family Violence Prevention Program, which includes the ‘Mums Can Dads Can/Girls Can Boys Can’ project.
5.57Dr Chay Brown, Post Doctoral Fellow at the Australian National University and Managing Director of Her Story Consulting, said that this family-based and holistic model is successful for a number of reasons:
…what makes this program really successful is that it's incredibly innovative and creative and resourceful, working in a very low-resource setting. None of the programs have a huge amount of funding, so they're working really creatively. It's also the community driven nature of those programs, the fact that it's being led by town campers, by local people, and it's really focused on that holistic response and working in partnership and participating in a number of multi-agency forums. So it's working as part of an integrated and coordinated response to domestic, family and sexual violence.
5.58Dr Brown added that she developed the Hopeful Together framework, a list of 10 principles of good practice to prevent violence against women in the Northern Territory, which has transference in conjunction with localised place‑based initiatives: ‘many national services or national responses don't fit, and they don't work here’.
5.59In New South Wales, Ms Rachael Cavanagh described how women in the Clarence Valley formed the ‘Djinders’ to support First Nations women who were experiencing domestic and family violence:
…we were able to secure a community gathering area, which we called the Djinders block. It was out in the middle of the bush. It was only 20 minutes from Grafton. So we were able to take families out and invite services to come in to talk to the women, or we would just have a barbeque or camp out just to take that pressure off and to give the women the support and the cultural safety to be able to speak to all of that.
5.60Ms Cavanagh described Djinders’ work as successful but indicated that the work was undermined by having no available and effective support services. She concluded: ‘our communities need to be listened to and resourced really well, because most of the time our communities have the solutions to these things that are happening’.
5.61Professor Muriel Bamblett AO from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council commented further on the issue of funding for First Nations‑based prevention initiatives. She said that most of the funding goes to mainstream organisations, which then need to be held to account for not delivering. She highlighted that the Victorian government has instituted a minimum commitment for Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs):
…what the Victorian government is committed to now is that 10 per cent of all funding must go to Aboriginal, so I think what we need to do is get government to commit if there's a close the gap and there's a commitment to Aboriginal shared decision-making and Aboriginal investment into control. The only way we're going to play catch-up is for government to put a figure on the table and say that, proportionate to the overall representation, we have to be able to fund our [ACCOs] across the nation. Too much of the funding goes to mainstream NGOs, with no account built in for outcomes, and our people don't get the service they need in the communities where they need it.
5.62Dr Brown concurred that First Nations communities are not getting the services they need, even in the Northern Territory which has disproportionate levels of domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV, see Chapter 2):
…governments would like an answer which is simple, cheap and quick, and the answer and the solutions are not simple nor are they quick, nor are they cheap...[C]urrently the Northern Territory receives 1.8 per cent of federal funding for domestic, family and sexual violence. I think the federal government may dispute that, but that's the figures that we have. In the past they have made commitments to developing a methodology for needs‑based funding, but that is nowhere to be seen. I don't think we can make any progress in this issue without the funding and resources, because here in the Northern Territory not only do we have these extraordinarily, totally unacceptably high rates, but also service delivery is significantly more expensive here.
5.63Ms Zara O’Sullivan, Acting Managing Solicitor of the Domestic Violence Legal Service (DVLS), agreed that needs-based funding is essential:
…the current funding model remains insufficient in adequately addressing the complexities of domestic, family and sexual violence and its impact upon Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children. DVLS has joined others in the NT's DFSV sector in calling for needs‑based funding for core DFSV service delivery that is long term and not reactionary. Suchfunding, as suggested by its name, would be based on the actual need for the funding, as opposed to simply looking at population numbers…[T]here must be needs‑based funding. The current system leads to a disjointed and fragmented response from all service providers—from police to legal services to support services—that lets these women down and places them at risk of further harm or death. We need to invest in trauma informed, culturally sensitive responses, which are simultaneously guided by the voices of victims-survivors and ensure that staff and services are able to invest in training and retention, as opposed to working on 12 or 24-month funding cycles.
First Nations-led and culturally appropriate primary prevention
5.64ALHR defined the primary prevention approach, as follows:
A primary prevention approach works to change the underlying social conditions that produce and drive violence against women, and that excuse, justify, ignore or even promote it. It works across the whole population to address the attitudes, norms, practices, structures and power imbalances that drive violence against women and girls. Individual behavioural change (to stop people using violence) may be the ultimate aim of prevention activity, but behavioural change cannot be achieved prior to, or in isolation from, broader and deeper change in these underlying drivers of violence, which are embedded within relationships, families, communities, organisations, institutions and society as a whole.
5.65Our Watch commented that prevention initiatives often focus on how to respond to the impacts of violence against First Nations women and children (early/secondary intervention and tertiary intervention): ‘this rightly leads to calls for expansion of, and improvements to, crisis and response systems, services and processes’.
5.66Our Watch argued, however, that focussing only on responding to violence fails to address its underlying causes or drivers:
Treating the symptoms of a problem can never be enough in the long term. As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service providers and advocates point out, this approach also tends to rely heavily on simplistic ‘law and order’ solutions and, as such, not only fails to address the ‘root causes of violence’ and ‘the underlying reasons why individuals come into contact with the justice system in the first place’, but also ‘only perpetuates cycles of trauma and disadvantage, and will not make our communities safer in the long term’.
5.67For this reason, several submitters endorsed justice reinvestment measures, whereby funding is diverted from law-and-order responses to community prevention initiatives. Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation and the Australian Lawyers Alliance submitted, for example:
A justice reinvestment model centres around place-based, community‑driven solutions to criminal justice issues which can be adjusted to the specific needs in each jurisdiction by providing housing, employment, health care and education.
5.68Our Watch argued that what is required is a primary prevention approach:
It is only by developing a prevention approach — one that identifies and addresses the deeper drivers of violence against First Nations women — that we can start to reduce and ultimately prevent this violence from occurring in the first place.
5.69Our Watch emphasised that prevention strategies must be implemented in First Nations communities and social settings. Further, this work must be developed and led by First Nations people, implemented by ACCOs and guided by the principles of self-determination and community ownership.
5.70Change the Record and Djirra shared the views of Our Watch:
A consistent call from participants in the Wiyi Yani U Thangani report, from [Family Violence Prevention Legal Services] and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community–controlled organisations, and communities is for a refocusing from crisis responses to prevention, with a focus on self-determined, place-based, trauma-informed, holistic and restorative support and healing services.
5.71Ms Jacqueline McGowan-Jones, the WA Commissioner for Children and Young People, stated that cultural awareness and safety training cannot replace the understanding and support provided by ACCOs:
…you can't give somebody a cultural lens that they've never grown up with…[Y]ou can try to give them enough cultural learning to try to behave in a culturally safe way and be able to provide a culturally responsive service…Aboriginal community-controlled organisations understand our culture, understand our approaches and know how best to work with our people…When Aboriginal community controlled organisations deliver the services, we have a much better understanding.
5.72Ms Christine Robinson from the Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre broadly agreed that community-controlled organisations work differently with First Nations women and children, compared to mainstream organisations.
Gendered violence
5.73In 2017, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, MsVictoria Tauli-Corpuz, visited Australia and observed in her report to the General Assembly:
Discrimination against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women on the grounds of gender, race and class is structurally and institutionally entrenched. This discrimination, coupled with the lack of culturally appropriate measures to address the issue, fosters a disturbing pattern of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
5.74Several submitters and witnesses referred to the violence perpetrated against First Nations women and children by men who are not First Nations people. Inthis context, there is a broader societal issue of gendered violence which needs to be considered.
5.75Mr Martin Hodgson, Senior Advocate with the Foreign Prisoner Support Service, stated, for example:
All the families I currently represent, whose loved ones—Aboriginal women and children—are missing and/or murdered, involve non-Indigenous men as the prime suspects…I would also point to evidence given to the Yoorrook Justice Commission just this week in Victoria and last week that showed that 85 per cent of Aboriginal women are in relationships with non-Indigenous men….[T]here is a misunderstanding that the majority of these murders are carried out by Aboriginal men, when it's simply not the case.
5.76Ms Antoinette Gentile, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Djirra, stated that ‘the narrative on so-called Aboriginal family violence’ must be changed, facilitated by more reliable and comprehensive data:
The assumption that Aboriginal family violence is a community problem is false. It is a gendered problem. In Victoria, for example, the Crime Statistics Agency, which is based on Victoria Police data, states that Aboriginal men commit 60 per cent of the violence against our women. This has not been Djirra's experience. We know that more than 90 per cent of family and sexual violence goes unreported. We also know that two out of three women accessing Djirra's legal services and 72 per cent of women accessing our individual support service had a non-Aboriginal partner in 2023. These men have often had little or no prior contact with the criminal justice or child protection systems, so they are not counted in much of the official family violence and crime data.
5.77The Law Council of Australia (Law Council) cautioned that care must be taken when describing violence against First Nations women and children. It noted that First Nations women experience family and other forms of violence:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women can also experience violence in a non-family and non-intimate context, such as from colleagues, classmates and strangers. Furthermore, legal and policy responses must recognise that domestic and partner violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women can be perpetrated by men from any cultural background.
5.78The Boorndawan Willam Aboriginal Healing Service highlighted that the positive aspects of gendered relations were destroyed by colonisation ‘and in its place violence has spawned’.
5.79In 2008, the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress hosted the first Aboriginal Male Health Summit at Alice Springs. Nearly 400 men met to discuss different strategies to assist them in resuming their role as protectors of the family and broader community. The participants presented an apology—the Inteyerrkwe Statement—to Aboriginal women and children, which read in part:
We acknowledge and say sorry for the hurt, pain and suffering caused by Aboriginal males to our wives, to our children, to our mothers, to our grandmothers, to our granddaughters, to our aunties, to our nieces and to our sisters. We also acknowledge that we need the love and support of our Aboriginal women to help us move forward.
5.80Dr Janet Hunt from the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at the Australian National University submitted that there is a gender bias in public policy, which explains why governments have not responded to First Nations women’s calls for action:
There has been a gender bias in public policy in relation to violence against First Nations people over many decades. For example, despite the fact that a comparable number of First Nations women have died as a result of violence against them, as First Nations men have died in custody, it is the latter issue that attracted far more public policy attention, including through an early Royal Commission…There is now data on deaths in custody. There is still no data on national deaths of First Nations women by violence.
5.81Dr Hunt argued that addressing gender inequality is part of the solution to ending violence in First Nations communities, including the murder and disappearance of women and girls:
The focus of much discussion about violence in First Nations communities in Australia is on the impact of colonisation and ignores gender oppression. The Canadian Inquiry nailed the relationship between these factors. They cannot be separated and programs to end violence in First Nations communities and to end the deaths and disappearances of women and girls, must be very clear about this. Gender inequality has to be addressed in such programs along with racial inequality and healing from the ongoing trauma of colonisation.
5.82The Western NSW Community Legal Centre and Western Women’s Legal Support argued that gender inequality has created a cultural context in which violence against women has been normalised. They submitted that this culture must be dismantled with a focus on the behaviour and accountability of men:
…violence is based in gender inequality, both within a societal construct as well as specific interpersonal relationships. This normalisation has created a cultural context in which men presume and believe they are legitimately empowered to exert their influence and control over women and children… The disempowerment and lack of resources (such as suitable housing and legal protections) available to women and children to leave such violence serves to reinforce the legitimacy of the male's actions. There is still a stigma and expectation that responsibility lies with the woman to leave the relationship and protect her children, as opposed to the male being held accountable by society for his actions…Social constructs must be dismantled and the focus shifted to the behaviour and accountability of men for their behaviour, in order to assist with reducing systemic causes of [domestic and family violence, DFV].
5.83Similarly, the North Queensland Women’s Legal Service (NQWLS) submitted that community attitudes must change, especially ‘disrespectful attitudes held by men and boys’, to address ‘toxic male entitlement and female subservience’:
We must not lose sight of the fact that it is the decision to use harmful physical behaviours by men and boys against women and girls that is the ultimate cause of the problem. This is true for all perpetrators of violence against any victim. To achieve any sustainable change, we must address the attitudes that men and boys hold, and that broader communities hold supporting men and boys’ beliefs that it is acceptable to treat women and girls in harmful ways.
…
Communities must encourage and empower First Nations women and girls to expect respectful relationships and to expect to live free of domestic/sexual violence. Community leaders, bystanders, families and individuals need to recognize and call out deviant behaviour as harmful and abnormal behaviour and there must be consequences for such behaviour.
5.84Ms Alison Bairnsfather-Scott, whose sister was murdered in 2019, queried how the perpetrators can be held to account when the violence is so widespread:
…we need to look at how we can better hold perpetrators to account in our community.Violence is so wide spread people just aren’t as shocked by it anymore. How can our community make the perpetrators accountable for their bad behaviour? What mechanisms do we have and what supports are available for those people that are brave enough to call this violence out because that is a lonely, sometimes dangerous, place to be.
Men’s behaviour change programs
5.85Multiple submitters and witnesses commented that there must be a focus on early interventions for perpetrators. Ms McGowan-Jones advised that perpetrator programs are not as common as women-focussed supports and services: ‘often perpetrators are affected by mental health and/or drug and alcohol substance misuse, and it's about providing the right supports’.
5.86The Boorndawan Willam Aboriginal Healing Service advised that there are specific problems with the programs that are available: ‘the mainstream programs that address toxic masculinity are offered too late in the piece and are not appropriate for First Nations men’.
5.87The Central Australian Aboriginal Congress concurred that mainstream men’s behaviour change programs (MBCPs) are not particularly well suited to Aboriginal men:
In Central Australia, attempts to run [MBCPs] for Aboriginal men are reportedly well received, but need substantial adaptation from mainstream models due to language and cultural differences. Such programs in the Central Australian Aboriginal context also need to be trauma-informed and healing-focused given the high levels of complex trauma amongst Aboriginal men. Culture and spirituality are important in addressing trauma and family violence through supporting resilience, positive social and emotional well-being, and life free of addiction.
5.88Similar to wrap-around services for First Nations men in the judicial system (seeparagraph 3.126), Ms Robinson from Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre supported wrap-around services for men in and exiting custody:
We really need to invest in how we support people in prison and how we transition them out. It is about how we have those supports and what those wrap-around supports are. It is not just about getting a roof over your head. It is also about how you live and how you change. One of those men said to me in the program, 'I just want to see more posters.' He said, 'If I get up every day and I look at a poster that says "don't be violent" or "don't hit", it's just a memory thing for me.' It's just a different way people are. We have to talk to people and ask, 'What works for you? What works for other people?' Onesize doesn't fit all. We need to remember that.
5.89Ms Rachael Ozanne-Pike from the NQWLS said that ‘there’s a fantastic opportunity up at the domestic violence courts to try to effect change’ through MBCPs. She argued that the courts should be able to order respondents to go to a MBCP provided by an ACCO.
5.90Mr Lachlan Withnall from the Kimberley Community Legal Services indicated that, in WA, ‘there is a mechanism…for the court to order the respondent to attend a behavioural change program, which would afford some perpetrator accountability and lead to some long-term behavioural change’. However, there are no approved providers:
…although we have this limited mechanism under the law, we have no available providers on the ground to deliver that service, which means that quite often perpetrators are not held to account for the family violence they inflict until such time as a police complaint is made.
5.91Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety referenced a report from Professor Marcia Langton AO et al, which found that long-term, evidence-based and First Nations-led and culturally safe services for male perpetrators are under-resourced, particularly in remote and rural areas:
…men’s healing programs, which are run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and focus on yarning, camping, and speaking with Elders to empower men to prevent perpetration of family violence, can function as an alternative to mainstream MBCPs. However, these programs do not meet the minimum standards for MBCPs and this may impact whether Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perpetrators are referred to the programs, and whether the programs themselves receive resourcing. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perpetrators of family violence also need increased access to support services to address substance use, mental illness and neurological disability. These issues are associated with increased severity of family violence…Addressing barriers to First Nations male perpetrators of family violence accessing holistic support services is critical to reducing rates of family violence against First Nations women and children.
5.92The Domestic Violence Legal Service and Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission identified the Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation’s Men’s Family Violence Prevention Program—Marra’ka Mbarintja (Talking straight to make change)—as the only MBCP which meets the standards set by the Central Australian Minimum Standards for Men’s Behaviour Change Programs.
5.93The Healing Foundation identified three examples of effective First Nations-led healing and behaviour change programs. It noted the programs provided by Dardi Munwurro (Strong Spirit), a specialist First Nations family violence service based in Victoria. In 2021, Deloitte Access Economics conducted an independent study that demonstrated the financial benefit from investing in such programs: ‘acost‑benefit analysis indicated that for each dollar invested into Dardi Munwurro there was an estimated return on investment of 50%–190%’.
5.94The Law Council referenced its Access to Justice project (see Chapter 3), which, it submitted, recognised:
…the need for investment in tailored, evidence-based rehabilitative behaviour-change programs for perpetrators to break the cycle of violence in families, as well as evaluations to ensure the programs’ effectiveness. This should include expanded access to culturally competent programs.
5.95The Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council submitted that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Health Organisations have not seen an increase in funding for MBCPs, despite Priority Reform 2 of the National Agreement (‘Build the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled sector’).
5.96Ms Anna Davis, Director of the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Reduction Division at the Department of Territory Families, Housing and Communities, advised that the NT Government supports initiatives other than incarceration as a solution to violence, including MBCPs:
There are two men's behaviour change programs operating at the moment. One is run by Tangentyere Aboriginal Council in Alice Springs, and the other one is run by CatholicCare NT in Darwin and in Wadeye...[T]he funding for those services has been more than tripled…in order to meet some of the existing and anticipated demand for those services. We have also been fortunate to receive funding under the National Partnership Agreement from the Commonwealth government to establish a new men's behaviour change program in the Katherine area. That program comes under the innovative perpetrator response grant, and the innovative nature of that is to have a more holistic view of domestic and family violence in relation to alcohol and other drugs use. The program, which is currently being shaped—it's not ready yet—will be looking at both domestic and family violence and alcohol and other drugs offending as they interrelate with each other, and that program will be delivered by an Aboriginal community controlled organisation.
5.97The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) and the Attorney‑General’s Department (AGD) submitted that the Commonwealth government funds services for perpetrators seeking to change their behaviour, including in conjunction with state and territory governments:
This [funding] includes $10.8 million to continue funding No To Violence for a Men’s Referral Service, confidential telephone counselling and referrals for perpetrators of family and domestic violence to help change their behaviour, the Brief Intervention Service (which provides multi-session telephone counselling to men seeking support to change their violence or controlling behaviour), and $25.0 million to partner with States and Territories to apply innovative approaches to address family and domestic violence perpetrator behaviour. $34.8 million has also been provided for a new early intervention trial for young men and adolescent boys aged 12 to 18 years who present with adverse childhood experiences including family or domestic violence, and who are at risk of perpetrating family, domestic or sexual violence.
Commonwealth government response
5.98The NIAA and the AGD acknowledged:
Reducing the rates of violence requires community-driven, trauma informed approaches that prioritise cultural healing, family restoration and the strength of First Nations families. Solutions must support frontline and prevention services, while also addressing the structural and systemic drivers of violence.
National Agreement on Closing the Gap
5.99The National Agreement on Closing the Gap (the National Agreement) aims to ‘overcome the entrenched inequality faced by too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people so that their life outcomes are equal to all Australians’ (paragraph 1.29).
5.100The National Agreement explicitly recognised the need to support ACCOs, as they are ‘better for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, achieve better results, employ more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and are often preferred over mainstream services’.
5.101National Agreement Priority Reform 2 (Building the Community Controlled Sector) therefore aims to ‘increase the amount of government funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs and services going through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations’.
5.102As with the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–32 (the National Plan), the Commonwealth government has funded a range of activities to support and achieve the National Agreement targets.
5.103In relation to Target 13, funded measures include a $203 million investment from 2020–21 to 2024–25, for Family Violence Prevention Legal Services providers, and an additional capability development measure to support DFV service providers, including ACCOs.
5.104The NIAA and the AGD advised that the Commonwealth government has also committed to a further range of measures to address violence against First Nations women and children. One of its key reforms is:
$38.6 million for the Closing the Gap Outcomes and Evidence Fund, which will fund Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to deliver projects to people experiencing (or at risk of) child removal and/or family violence, focusing on building an evidence base for service impacts informed by First Nations-specific reporting and evaluation models.
5.105As foreshadowed in Chapter 2, the Productivity Commission (PC) is not able to report progress on National Agreement Target 13, with measures and data for the target and indicators yet to be developed.
National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–32
5.106As noted in Chapter 3, to support the National Plan, the Commonwealth government has funded measures in the category of sector strengthening measures. The NIAA and the AGD submitted:
The Government is working to strengthen the family safety sector by improving the capability of service providers to deliver accessible, integrated, trauma informed, and culturally safe services for First Nations peoples through a number of initiatives.
5.107Most relevant to this inquiry is the $3.2 million Connected Family Safety Services initiative, which aims to empower remote First Nations communities and organisations to map family safety services and identify gaps, with a view to developing a community plan that suits them (an action item in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan).
Additional actions
5.108The NIAA and the AGD highlighted that, on 24 March 2024, the Commonwealth government released the Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality (the Strategy), which aims to achieve ‘the government’s vision for gender equality—an Australia where people are safe, treated with respect, have choices, and have access to resources and equal outcomes no matter their gender’.
5.109 Also, on 1 May 2024, the National Cabinet met to discuss gender-based violence and agreed a number of priorities and outcomes to complement the National Plan, including:
strengthening prevention efforts through targeted, evidence-based approaches to build on the current universal approaches to ending gender-based violence. The Government committed $1.3 million in the 2024-25 Budget to establish an independent expert panel to undertake a rapid review of the approach to violence prevention and advise Government on additional efforts to end the cycle of violence.
…
improving information and data sharing about perpetrators across systems and jurisdictions, led by Data and Digital Ministers and Women and Women’s Safety Ministers.
maintaining a focus on missing and murdered First Nations people throughout this work.
5.110First Ministers are expected to report back to the National Cabinet on this gender-based violence in the third quarter of 2024.