Men’s Health Australia

The Hon. Linda Burney MP Minister for Women P.O. Box 1292 Level 30 Governor Macquarie Tower Bondi Junction NSW 1355 T 0403 813 925 1 Farrer Place E [email protected] Sydney NSW 2000 W www.menshealthaustralia.net

CC:

Mr Barry Collier MP, Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Attorney General The Hon. MP, Premier of NSW Mr Barry O'Farrell MP, Leader of the Opposition Ms MP, Shadow Minister for Women The Hon. John Hatzistergos MLC, Attorney-General Mr Greg Smith MP, Shadow Attorney-General

16 September 2009

Dear Ms Burney,

Congratulations on your recent appointment to the position of Minister for Women.

There are some outstanding matters of correspondence (attached) between Men’s Health Australia and the former minister which, I have been informed by ’s office, have been handed on to you. I look forward to a response in due course and would be happy to brief you on these issues if that would be helpful.

Part of my role as research and media liaison officer for Men’s Health Australia, is to challenge government statements, media and materials, that are misleading, inaccurate, or prejudicial towards men and boys, or that undermine the endeavour to approach men’s and boy’s health and issues in an intelligent, respectful, positive, equitable and constructive way.

As such, I take note of your parliamentary speech on 23rd June 2009, in which you made the following claims:

• that “domestic violence affects one in three women in Australia”

• that “it is the most likely form of preventable deaths for women under the age of 45”

• and that “women and children fleeing domestic violence form the largest group of homeless people in our country”.

While I’m sure these statements were made in good faith and were not intended to mislead, unfortunately they contain substantial errors which I would like to bring to your attention.

Regarding the first claim, the ABS Personal Safety Survey1 (the most comprehensive, recent and largest scale survey on violence in Australia) found that approximately one in six Australian women will be affected by domestic violence (violence from a current or former partner) over their lifetimes. On an annual basis, domestic violence affects approximately one in sixty-seven women.

1 Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006). Personal safety survey australia: 2005 reissue 4906.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. (Original work published August 10, 2006) Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/DetailsPage/4906.02005 (Reissue)?OpenDocument 1 of 2

On the second matter, domestic violence is not a likely cause of death for Australian women under the age of 45. The World Health Organisation’s2 2003 data (the most recent available) shows that the most frequent causes of death for Australian women aged 15 to 44 are malignant neoplasms (757 deaths), accidents and adverse affects (410 deaths), suicide and self-inflicted injury (256 deaths), diseases of the circulatory system (248 deaths) and diseases of the digestive system (81 deaths). The Australian Institute of Criminology3 reports that there were 54 domestic violence homicides of women in 2003-4.

The problem with the third statement is that, while domestic/family violence is the main reason cited for seeking assistance from Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) agencies4, the need for housing/ accommodation is just one of many reasons why people approach SAAP agencies (other non-accommodation services provided include financial/employment, personal support, advocacy and specialist services). It is also important to acknowledge that SAAP agencies accommodate just 15 per cent of the Australians who experience homelessness on any given night5, the majority (58 per cent) of whom are men6.

Men’s Health Australia believes that violence is an important issue impacting upon the health and wellbeing of our communities, and that every effort should be made to reduce its incidence and impact. We also believe that any approach to reducing violence must be developed through healthy debate amongst both our community and its leaders, and that such debate must be based upon accurate representation of the most recent, robust data available to us.

It is our hope that the Office for Women’s Policy, under your leadership, will take an objective, evidence-based approach to the issue of domestic violence – one that is based upon accurate representations of the best data available. The safety of the women, children and men of NSW depend on it.

If you would like to meet with me to discuss this matter and the work of Men’s Health Australia, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Yours sincerely,

Greg Andresen Research & Media Liaison Men’s Health Australia

2 World Health Organisation (2006). Table 1: Numbers and rates of registered deaths. Australia - 2003. World health organisation mortality data- base [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organisation. Retrieved September 20, 2009, from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/morttables/en/ 3 Mouzos, J. (2005). Homicide in australia: 2003-2004 national homicide monitoring program (NHMP) annual report. Canberra: Australian Insti- tute of Criminology. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://www.aic.gov.au/en/publications/current series/rpp/61-80/rpp66.aspx 4 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2009). Homeless people in SAAP, SAAP national data collection annual report 2007-08. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10662 5 Chamberlain, C., & MacKenzie, D. (2003). Australian census analytic program : Counting the homeless 2001. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/Lookup/5AD852F13620FFDCCA256DE2007D81FE/$File/20500_2001.pdf 6 Commonwealth of Australia (2008). Which way home? A new approach to homelessness. Canberra: Dept. of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/housing/pubs/homelessness/green_paper_homlessess1/Pages/default.aspx 2 of 2