Improving family violence legal and support services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women MARCIA LANGTON | KRISTEN SMITH | TAHLIA EASTMAN LILY O’NEILL | EMILY CHEESMAN | MERIBAH ROSE RESEARCH REPORT ISSUE 25 | DECEMBER 2020 ANROWS acknowledgement This material was produced with funding from the Australian Government and the Australian state and territory governments. Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) gratefully acknowledges the financial and other support it has received from these governments, without which this work would not have been possible. The findings and views reported in this paper are those of the authors and cannot be attributed to the Australian Government, or any Australian state or territory government. Acknowledgement of Country ANROWS acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land across Australia on which we work and live. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present, and future, and we value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures, and knowledge. We are committed to standing and working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, honouring the truths set out in the Warawarni-gu Guma Statement. The cover art features Resilience (2014), an ANROWS-commissioned art series by Christine Blakeney, a Wiradjuri/Yaegl woman from NSW. Peer review process The quality of ANROWS publications is ensured through a rigorous peer review process that is consistent with the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Ethical Guidelines for Peer Review. This report has been assessed by at least two peer reviewers with relevant academic expertise. © ANROWS 2020 Published by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited (ANROWS) PO Box Q389, Queen Victoria Building, NSW 1230 | www.anrows.org.au | Phone +61 2 8374 4000 ABN 67 162 349 171 Improving family violence legal and support services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (Research report) / Langton et al. Sydney : ANROWS, 2020. Pages ; 30cm. (Research report, Issue 25/2020) I. Family violence – Australia – Prevention. II. Victims of family violence – Services for – Australia. III. Indigenous women – Australia. I. Langton, Marcia. II. Smith, Kristen. III. Eastman, Tahlia. IV. O’Neill, Lily. V. Cheesman, Emily. VI. Rose, Meribah. ISBN: 978-1-925925-57-9 (print) | 978-1-925925-58-6 (online) Creative Commons Licence Attribution-Non Commercial CC BY-NC This licence lets others distribute, remix and build upon the work, but only if it is for non-commercial purposes and they credit the original creator/s (and any other nominated parties). They do not have to license their Derivative Works on the same terms. Version 3.0 (CC Australia ported licence): View CC BY-NC Australia Licence Deed | View CC BY-NC 3.0 Australia Legal Code Version 4.0 (international licence): View CC BY-NC 4.0 Licence Deed | View CC BY-NC 4.0 Legal Code Please note that there is the potential for minor revisions of this report. Please check the online version at www.anrows.org.au for any amendment. ii Improving family violence legal and support services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women PROFESSOR MARCIA LANGTON Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies, Indigenous Studies Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne DR KRISTEN SMITH Senior Research Fellow, Indigenous Studies Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne TAHLIA EASTMAN Research Fellow, Indigenous Studies Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne DR LILY O’NEILL Research Fellow, Indigenous Studies Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne EMILY CHEESMAN Research Fellow, Indigenous Studies Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne DR MERIBAH ROSE Research Fellow, Indigenous Studies Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne This report addresses work covered in the ANROWS research project "Improving family violence legal and support services for Indigenous women". Please consult the ANROWS website for more information on this project. ANROWS research contributes to the six National Outcomes of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022. This research addresses National Plan Outcome 3—Indigenous communities are strengthened. Suggested citation: Langton, M., Smith, K., Eastman, T., O’Neill, L., Cheesman, E., & Rose, M. (2020). Improving family violence legal and support services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (Research report, 25/2020). Sydney: ANROWS. iii The University of Melbourne Parkville, Victoria, 3010 Author acknowledgement Primarily, we would like to thank our participants for taking the time to share their stories in support of this research. We would also like to thank the research assistants, both in community and at the university that contributed to this work. We would like to thank the community and Elders for generously offering their time and knowledge: without your support, this report would not have been possible. Author acknowledgement of Traditional Owners of the country The authors acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the country on which we work, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We also acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the country where our research took place, the Latji Latji and Barkindji people of Mildura and the Wiradjuri and Dhudhuroa people of Albury and Wodonga. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Acknowledgement of lived experiences of violence ANROWS acknowledges the lives and experiences of the women and children affected by domestic, family and sexual violence who are represented in this report. We recognise the individual stories of courage, hope and resilience that form the basis of ANROWS research. Caution: Some people may find parts of this content confronting or distressing. Recommended support services include 1800 RESPECT—1800 737 732 and Lifeline—13 11 14. iv RESEARCH REPORT | DECEMBER 2020 Contents List of tables 4 List of figures 4 Acronyms 5 Definitions and concepts 7 Executive summary 11 Research aims and design 11 Methodology 12 Key findings 13 Benefits of the research 17 Introduction 19 Approach to interview and data collection 20 Background 20 State of knowledge review 23 Methods and theoretical approaches used in this state of knowledge review 24 Understandings of family violence experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 25 The risk factors and context of Aboriginal family violence 31 Racism: Racist exclusion, systemic, internalised, lateral and complex 32 Whose trauma? Privileging the trauma of perpetrators over that of the victims 33 The cycle of pain: Intergenerational trauma, family violence, alcohol and the removal of children from their families by governments 36 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination and family violence services 40 Improving family violence legal and support services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women 1 RESEARCH REPORT | DECEMBER 2020 Research approach, methodologies and methods: Indigenous women as victims of violence and the research challenges 42 Research approach 42 Theoretical frameworks 48 Mixed methods research 50 Critical, socio-legal audit of family violence legal framework 54 Ethical considerations and risk management 55 Key findings 57 The severity of family violence against Aboriginal women 57 Serial perpetrators of family violence 60 Aboriginal women and their children 64 Stolen Generation and child protection 64 Barriers to support services and programs from association to child protection 65 Uneven and unfair burden of responsibility for Aboriginal mothers 66 The weaponising of children by perpetrators 68 Distrust of police, homelessness and shame: Barriers to reporting family violence 70 Availability, accessibility and acceptability of family violence legal and support services at the field sites 75 Health services 79 Homelessness and housing services 81 Audit of family violence legislation 88 Conclusion 98 Recommendations for policy and practice 98 References 103 Legislation 113 2 Improving family violence legal and support services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women RESEARCH REPORT | DECEMBER 2020 APPENDIX A: Table of national family violence protection orders legislation 115 APPENDIX B: Table of child protection legislative and policy provisions in Victoria and New South Wales 123 APPENDIX C: Family violence services available in Albury, Wodonga and Mildura 134 Improving family violence legal and support services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women 3 RESEARCH REPORT | DECEMBER 2020 List of tables Table 1: Interviews X Table 2: Focus groups X Table 3: Interviews X Table 4: Focus groups X Table 5: Perpetrator weaponisation of children X Table 6: Child protection mandatory reporting in New South Wales and Victoria X List of figures Figure 1: Rate of substantiated notifications (number per 1000) by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status and state/territory for children (0–17 years) 2016–17 X Figure 2: Rate of Aboriginal and