Violence Against Women Bulletin - June 1999
Information Bulletin - June 1999: Volume 3, Issue 2
Click here to download the PDF version of the June 1999 Bulletin>>
 | To view a PDF document, you will need a copy of Adobe Acrobat on your computer. If you do not have a copy of Adobe Acrobat, you can download a copy for free from the Adobe site. |
News from the NSW Council on Violence Against Women
Council’s work on the International Year of Older Persons
Violence against older women often remains unrecognised. During the International Year of Older Persons, the NSW Council on Violence Against Women is promoting initiatives to raise awareness of violence against older women. The Council is putting the issue firmly on the public agenda through a range of public speaking engagements.
The Council is also working with the Department for Women to expand its Speakers Register on the topics of relevance to older women. The Speakers Register lists names of interesting, informative speakers for a variety of audiences.
Older women interested in speaking on older women’s issues are encouraged to register. If you are interested in becoming a speaker or would care to nominate a colleague with this purpose in mind, please contact the Department for Women on (02) 9334 1160.
News from the Unit
New Executive Officer
The Unit extends a warm welcome to Karen Heller, the new Executive Officer. Karen was previously with the Gender Equity Bureau in the Department of Education and Training.
Jane Sheldon was Acting Executive Officer for 6 months. Jane has moved to establish the new Executive and Strategic Services Unit, within the Attorney General’s Department. The staff from the VAW Specialist Unit thank Jane for her generous and skilful management of the Unit and look forward to working with her in her new capacity.
Predicting Violence Against Women
The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has released a new Crime and Justice Bulletin titled Predicting Violence Against Women: the 1996 Women’s Safety Survey.
If you are an unmarried woman aged 18-24 years who:
- suffered physical abuse as a child;
- experienced violence as an adult;
- whose highest qualification is a diploma; and
- who is on a government benefit (other than family payment),
you face an 85 per cent chance of being physically assaulted or threatened with physical assault in the next 12 months. By contrast, if you are a married woman aged 45 to 54 years who:
- has never experienced violence as an adult or child;
- whose highest qualification is a degree; and
- who earns a wage or salary,
then your chance of being physically assaulted or threatened with physical assault in the next 12 months is 8 per cent.
These figures, contained in a new analysis of national data by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, illustrate the extreme variation in the risk of physical violence faced by different groups of Australian women. There is a similar wide variation in the risk of sexual violence.
Childhood physical and sexual abuse emerged from the Bureau’s analysis as key predictors of adult physical violence, sexual violence and emotional abuse.
Commenting on the findings, the Director of the Bureau, Dr Don Weatherburn, said that they highlighted a new dimension to the so called ‘cycle of violence’.
“It has long been known that people who experience physical or sexual abuse as children are at risk, as adults, of abusing their own children. These data show that women who suffer physical or sexual abuse as a child are at increased risk of physical or sexual violence as an adult”.
“Past research by the Bureau has shown that a reduction in child maltreatment would reduce the number of offenders. This research suggests that it would also reduce the number of victims of violence”.
According to Dr Weatherburn, the research findings create opportunities for better targeting of services to women who become victims of violence.
“It is true that violence against women occurs across the social and demographic spectrum. It is also true, however, that violence is much more prevalent among young unmarried women than among other groups of women”.
“These findings have important practical implications. Young, unmarried women, those on a government benefit other than family payment, those who have experienced abuse as a child and those who have already experienced violence as an adult ought to be the prime focus of service and prevention programs”.
For copies of Predicting Violence Against Women: the 1996 Women’s Safety Survey, contact the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research on (02) 9231 9190.
Peer recognition for excellence in addressing the issue of domestic violence
The Stop Domestic Violence Day Organising Committee announced this year’s recipients of Statements of Recognition for excellence in work addressing the issue of domestic violence. Each year, individuals and organisations are nominated by peers working in the field. The Honourable Faye Lo Po, Minister for Women, the presented certificates at the launch of Stop Domestic Violence Day, held on 27 April 1999.
Congratulations to this year’s recipients of Statements of Recognition for outstanding achievement in prevention of domestic violence:
- Sally Steele, Essie Women’s Refuge;
- Senior Constable Anthony Bell, Domestic Violence Liaison Officer, Eastern Beaches Local Area Command;
- Senior Constable Gina Johnson, Bankstown Local Area Command;
- Senior Constable Luci Raferty, Lismore Police Station;
- Senior Constable Libby Bleakley, Lithgow Police Station;
- the organising committee for the Partnerships, Prevention and Rural Action and Violence Against Women Conference held in Wellington last year - Nita Scott, Liz Mulder, Gwen Cosier, Christine Foreman, Elsie Gordon;
- Benevolent Society - Centre for Women’s Health, Campbelltown; and
- the project team for the Strengthening Attitudes Opposing Domestic Violence in Culturally Diverse Communities Project (Central Sydney and South Western Sydney Area Health Services) - Margo Moore, Di Lane, Losaline Veikoso, Annie Chen, Gladys Zaccak, Yen Vo, Anne Connolly and Barbara Luisi.
Men Who Beat Women are Criminals
“The spotlight must be shone on the secret double life of men who beat women”, said Chris Evans, NSW Police Service spokesperson on domestic violence when describing a new Police public education campaign.
The NSW Police Service are targeting offenders in their anti-domestic violence campaign for 1999. The campaign consists of a series of posters, a cinema advertisement and media promotion across the State. The posters and cinema advertisement depict the ugly face of violence expressed in domestic, private settings juxtaposed with public myths of civility.
“The message we are sending out to the community is clear - domestic violence is a crime and men who beat women are criminals”, Commander Evans said.
Police Minister Paul Whelan appealed to the wider community to help expose the double life led by many domestic violence offenders and to stop their criminal behaviour by calling the police.
“Men who beat women are often respected members of their community, with their violence in the home often remaining unknown”, Mr Whelan said.
“But sadly, sometimes their behaviour is known to those around them, but nothing is done to change it. We have to encourage these silent witnesses to take the next step. We need to make people realise the disturbance in the house next door is not ‘just a domestic’ - it is a crime”.
The spotlight on offenders, a hallmark of this campaign, marks a change in direction for statewide public education campaigns on domestic violence. To date, domestic violence advertising has communicated to the victim, encouraging her to report to the police. Such advertising has played a very important role in changing community attitudes - domestic violence is now seen by more to be a crime and more victims are reporting these crimes. However, this advertising has been interpreted by some as contributing to the myth that domestic violence is the responsibility of the victim.
The Public Affairs unit in the NSW Police Service recognised that a campaign was required to debunk this myth and shift this responsibility to the offender. They wanted to send a message to the community refuting the excuses male offenders make to lessen their responsibility. For victims the message is positive - no one is accepting such excuses - domestic violence is a crime and the police are serious about enforcing it!
For copies of the posters contact Peter Rogers, NSW Police Service Public Affairs on (02) 9339 5043.
Engage, Enable, Empower - Aboriginal Family Health Strategy
The Aboriginal Family Health Strategy primary theme is to engage, enable and empower Aboriginal communities and relevant agencies to take control and work collaboratively to achieve a reduction in the occurrence of family violence, sexual assault and child abuse according to the community’s unique and local needs.
The Aboriginal Family Health Strategy represents the NSW Government’s commitment to provide action to address the matter of family violence, sexual assault and child abuse within the Aboriginal community in NSW. The Guiding Principles of the Strategy are bound in the spirit of Aboriginal community control and self-determination. Solutions to family violence, sexual assault and child abuse must be found within the Aboriginal community.
The NSW Government has committed $1.2 million dollars in recurrent funding to implement the Aboriginal Family Health program. NSW Health Department has funded 13 Aboriginal Family Health Projects under the Strategy for a period of up to two years.
The Aboriginal Family Health program will fund family focussed, imaginative and innovative projects that promote community control reflecting community needs, complement existing services and encourage inter-agency cooperation. Projects submitted for funding should reflect the Aboriginal Family Health Strategy principle that family health solutions in Aboriginal communities need to be holistic, culturally and spiritually focussed. Communities and organisation are encouraged to apply for 1999/2000 funding for Aboriginal Family Health Projects. Aboriginal Family Health Information Packages, which include Program Guidelines and an Application for Funding form are available by contacting the Aboriginal Health Branch on (02) 9391 9496. The closing date for 1999/2000 Aboriginal Family Health funding is 25 June 1999.
For further information about the Aboriginal Family Health Program, a copy of the Aboriginal Family Health Strategy, the Statewide Implementation Plan: Building a Coordinated Community Response, or to be on the Aboriginal Family Health Mailing List, please contact Ms Rowena Lawrie on (02) 9391 9496 or via email at lawr@doh.health.nsw.gov.au
Violence is a Crime at Any Age - a report from the Older Women’s Network
There is very little written specifically about violence against older women and even less material on older women speaking of their experience of violence and abuse.
The absence of older women’s voices in the numerous reports on violence against women led the Older Women’s Network (OWN) to design and distribute a questionnaire to the fourteen OWN groups in NSW.
OWN wanted to know what older women’s experiences of violence had been, what their views were about services/resources that were useful, what services /resources might have been useful, and what suggestions they have for older women to become better informed about violence and abuse in the home.
The results are summarised in a report Violence is a Crime at Any Age. Copies of the report are available in hard copy from OWN or from the OWN website.
Older Women’s Network
Phone: (02) 9247 7046
Email: ownnsw@zip.com.au
Website: http://www.zip.com.au/~ownnsw
Regional Violence Prevention Specialist Program
Regional Violence Prevention Specialists are in the process of winding-up projects from their first Regional Action Plans. Project outcomes are being assessed and the lessons learnt from the first 18 months of implementation are being fed into the planning for the next 12 months of regional work. Regional Action Plans for 1999-2000 are being developed.
A number of projects have come to fruition in the last few months. One such project addressed the issue of violence against young women.
Utterbox CD: Young Women Speaking Against Violence
The production of a CD titled Utterbox was a project of the Illawarra Regional Action Plan. The project aimed to raise the awareness and understanding of young women of the different types of violence and personal safety issues.
The region identified the need for community education on issues of violence that potentially confront young women, as well as the need to provide opportunities for young people to participate in reducing violence against women. Consequently, it was fundamental to the project design that strategies would involve young people themselves.
While the project was co-ordinated by the RVPS for the Illawarra Region, Denise Henry, a key community partner in the project was Wollongong Youth Centre. Frank Mincone, Youth Worker with the Centre, took a lead role.
In particular, the project was designed to:
- raise awareness of the different types of violence against women;
- challenge the belief that violence is inherent within relationships; and
- provide young women with a range of safety strategies.
A number of young people were involved in writing original music and lyrics for the CD, performing and recording in the studio and performing live to promote the CD. All lyrics had an anti-violence theme. The CD and live gigs were promoted in music magazines and tracks from the CD were played on Community Radio VOX FM, ABC Triple J and ABC Illawarra.
The project is an excellent example of regional partnerships in action and of the benefits of a community identifying its own issues and developing its own solutions.
Regional conferences coming up
- The following two conferences are planned:1. the Working Together For A Safer Future conference, a project of the Wentworth Regional Action Plan. This two day regional conference aims to promote a partnership approach between agencies; provide opportunities for inter-sectoral discussion and collaboration for workers; and develop strategies to address these issues.The conference will be held in Penrith on 26 July 1999. For more information contact Anoop Johar, RVPS, Wentworth Region on (02) 4732 1322.
- The Central Coast Regional Reference Group is hosting a conference titled What’s This Thing Called Prevention? - exploring future directions for preventing violence against women. The conference will be held in Wyong on 30 June 1999. For more information contact Chris Smith, RVPS, Central Coast on (02) 4320 2575.
Regional Violence Prevention Specialists (RVPS) Contact List
| Regional Specialist | Area Health Region | Location | Phone |
| Punita Boardman | Northern Sydney | Manly | (02) 9976 8020 |
| Judy Duggan | Far West | Bourke | (02) 6872 1795 |
| Robyn Edwards | South Eastern Sydney | Zetland | (02) 9382 8145 |
| Di Furniss | Northern Rivers | Lismore | (02) 6620 2401 |
| Lilian Gomez | South Western Sydney | Liverpool | (02) 9821 8527 |
| Cathy Hastings | New England | Tamworth | (02) 6768 2814 |
| Denise Henry | Illawarra | Wollongong East | (02) 4254 0302 |
| Anoop Johar | Wentworth | Penrith | (02) 4732 1322 |
| Helen Kay | Mid Western | Orange | (02) 6361 6925 |
| Karen MacLean | Greater Murray | Albury | (02) 6058 1850 |
Jillian Meyers-
Brittain | Hunter | Newcastle | (02) 4929 0921 |
| Matina Mottee | Central Sydney | Burwood | (02) 9715 0448 |
| Liz Mulder | Macquarie | Coonabarabran | (02) 6842 6447 |
| Chris Smith | Central Coast | Gosford | (02) 4320 2575 |
Rugmini
Venkatraman | Western Sydney | Parramatta | (02) 9633 0717 |
| Mary Willis | Mid North Coast | Taree | (02) 6551 1507 |
| Tashe Long | Southern | Queanbeyan | (02) 6298 9966 |
The Violence Against Women Specialist Unit is based in the Crime Prevention Division of the NSW Attorney General’s Department. It is one of the central initiatives in the NSW Strategy To Reduce Violence Against Women.
This bulletin is for anyone interested in the prevention of violence against women and is intended to inform people about the NSW Strategy To Reduce Violence Against Women and its implementation. For more information about the Bulletin contact the Violence Against Women Specialist Unit.
ISSN 1328-437
Click here to download the PDF version of the June 1999 Bulletin>>
 | To view a PDF document, you will need a copy of Adobe Acrobat on your computer. If you do not have a copy of Adobe Acrobat, you can download a copy for free from the Adobe site. |
|
|
