Blog Archives

The cost of a day in court is more emotionally and financially draining than you might think

22/12/2018

... if domestic violence is involved in a family law case, it's common for one party to draw out court proceedings as a means of exercising power and control. Money becomes a weapon where one party tries to drag the case out hoping their partner will give up...

Read the full article here

Eight times each day in Victoria, someone on bail breaches a family violence order

21/12/2018

Almost eight times a day on average in the past year someone who was on bail breached a family violence intervention order in Victoria, new police statistics show.
A total of 2806 family violence intervention orders (IVOs) were broken by people who had been released back into the community on bail in the 12 months to September 2018.
There were almost 20,000 family violence IVO breaches last year, with the infringement now representing 5 per cent of all criminal incidents that police deal with.

Read the full story here

Why are our jails full of domestic violence victims?

20/12/2018

The number of women in prison is continuing to soar, new data shows. But advocates warn we can't arrest the increase until we start properly addressing domestic abuse, which affects an overwhelming majority of women behind bars.

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Tech-based abuse on a huge increase

16/12/2018

Tech-facilitated abuse is having a devastating impact on women’s lives, according to a new national survey. The study found that 98% of domestic violence sector workers had clients who had experienced technology-facilitated abuse and stalking.

Learn more here.

NRL urged to ban for life players convicted of sexual assault and domestic violence

16/12/2018

NRL players convicted of serious offences such as sexual assault should be banned for life, the league’s gender advisor, Catharine Lumby, and former team captain, Alan Tongue, says.

Read the full article here.

Olga Edwards' death was 'slow murder'

15/12/2018

Women's safety advocates say a range of measures, including technological monitoring and jail time for repeated breaches of intervention orders, should be considered to prevent a repeat of the murder of teenagers Jack and Jennifer Edwards by their father, John Edwards, in July.

The calls were made following news Olga Edwards, 37, the mother of Jack, 15 and Jennifer, 13, was found dead in the Pennant Hills home in which her children were shot dead in July. by the children's father who then shot and killed himself. Spokespeople have described Olga's death as 'slow murder'.

Social work academic and researcher, Professor Cathy Humphreys, said a "profound problem" in the way the courts handled access to children for people with violent histories is that they did not understand the violence often does not stop after separation.

"There isn't really a recognition that fathers using violence in the home when the family is together do not somehow magically become good fathers when separation occurs.

"Often there are child protection people saying saying 'you must separate, and keep these children safe because this man's too dangerous', and when they do separate the first thing that gets arranged is unsupervised child contact."

She said women are seen as failing to protect children if they remain with a violent partner, and "alienating" if they attempt to cease contact. "That is a conundrum that hasn't been sorted out."

Read the full article here.

Research shows that those strangled by their current or past partner are seven times more likely to be murdered by that person

15/12/2018

In the 11 days since NZ changed its Family Violence Act, 29 (!!) people have been charged with the new specific criminal offence of strangulation.
Read the full article here.

Olga Edwards is no longer a survivor but a victim of family violence

14/12/2018

We take our children with us in our hearts everywhere, every day. They are at once the reason we live and the elephant on our shoulders. Their death is unimaginable. Let’s acknowledge Olga Edwards' terrible grief.
But let’s also acknowledge the long-term impacts on women of domestic and family violence. Sarah Wendt, professor in social work at Flinders University, says the results of her research are quite clear. The long-term impacts are physical, mental, social, material. Domestic violence is not an individual catastrophe.

Read the full story here.

Women, keep yourselves safe this holiday season in more ways than one

13/12/2018

Women, keep yourselves safe (from exhaustion) this holiday season. Remind yourself before every gathering that you do not have an obligation to put everyone else’s needs above your own.
It’s not your job to choose presents, manage social arrangements, come up with menus, shop, cook and clean up after family dinners, while also making sure the men are feeling appropriately manly and chesty as they stand over the BBQ.

Women, keep yourselves safe (from being put down) this holiday season. If you’re told you’re too loud, too opinionated, too pushy, too demanding, too uncomfortable, too unwilling to compromise, too fat, too thin, too overdressed, too unkempt, too black, too white, too queer, too smart, too stupid, too funny, too quiet, too present, too absent, too much something or not enough of something else, armour yourself with the knowledge that you can never be too you and “sod off” is a perfectly acceptable response to anyone who says you’re taking up emotional, intellectual, physical or professional space in the world.

Women, keep yourselves safe (from too-harsh self criticism) this holiday season. Unless you have committed real transgressions against another person, do not apologise for being imperfect. Do not apologise for speaking or thinking. Do not apologise for who you are or how the potatoes turned out.

Women, keep yourselves safe (from being over-burdened) this holiday season. If you’re feeling burned out and exhausted, and sometimes you want to eat more than you should, drink more than is recommended, stay in bed after the kids wake up, or huddle on the couch with the dog instead of going to yet another party, go ahead.

Read the full article here.

Sydney man underwent domestic violence course before killing his girlfriend

13/12/2018

Soon after completing a domestic violence prevention course Russell Brian Wood grabbed his girlfriend in a choker hold before stabbing and killing her during a fight in Sydney.
Wood, 27, has pleaded guilty to the murder of Sarah Brown, 34, who was stabbed inside her home in Whalan in late September 2017.

Read the full article here.

Shocking family violence: 'I'll burn the damn car, we will die today'

12/12/2018

WARNING: This story has distressing content.
A man with an appalling history of family violence against his first wife, has pleaded guilty to a series of assaults against his second wife, including choking her with electrical cord and whipping the woman because she struggled to speak English.

Read the full story here.

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1171209795909/domestic-violence-in-australia-facts-and-figures

11/12/2018

Why it took me two years to realise I was in an abusive relationship

9/12/2018

24-year-old Chloe* thought that because her partner never hit her, he hadn't done anything bad enough to make her leave.

Read Chloe's story here.

New Queensland campaign focuses on Domestic and Family Violence in the LGBTIQ community

8/12/2018

Tackling myths about domestic and family violence in the LGBTIQ community will be the focus of a Queensland government campaign because the issue did not discriminate.

Read the full article here.

Family violence is about to spike: that's why impact doesn't take a holiday... and here's how to help yourself or a friend

8/12/2018

The festive season is coming. In Victoria alone, police expect an additional 50 reports of family violence incidents every single day over December and January. And that's why impact doesn't take a holiday.

Read the full article here.

Murder, family violence and suicide: Qld survivor tells her story

8/12/2018

Having lived a lifetime of domestic and family violence Marissa Botes said she's no longer embarrassed to tell her story. Ms Botes described her experience as "going through hell". "I'm not embarrassed about what I've been through," Ms Botes said. "People need to speak out so people can reach out."

Read the full story here: please note this article is behind a paywall.