By Benjamin Millar
Services tackling family violence in the western suburbs face an uphill battle in the face of crippling funding cuts, a forum has heard.
The Family Violence Forum held in Footscray last Wednesday aired a number of frustrations hampering service providers and police.
The forum coincided with a record number of police referrals of family violence cases to Footscray-based Women’s Health West – 7629 in the past 11 months, or almost one every hour.
Forum participants spoke of women’s reluctance to report intervention order breaches and their inability to leave abusive relationships due to financial hardship trapping them in the family violence cycle.
Chronic shortages of psychologists, interpreters and men’s behaviour change programs were also cited as roadblocks.
The need for greater funding of prevention programs in schools and workplaces and steps towards ending gender inequity were pinpointed.
Prevention of Family Violence Minister Fiona Richardson told the forum the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence was a vital step towards achieving a long-term impact.
Ms Richardson said it was crucial to improve the way family violence was measured and to track whether progress was being made.
“We need some sort of measure that will tell us how we’re performing over time, so we’ve come up with the Family Violence Index,” she said. The index will draw together data from the fields of crime, justice, health and education.
Ms Richardson singled out the “complex and inaccessible” court system for failing to keep victims safe.
“The court system is a traumatising process. Intervention orders are often not worth the paper they’re written on.”
She also pressed the need for a greater emphasis on protecting children, saying the impact on children slipped from view.
“We now know that children’s brains change in family violence situations and they are more likely to become perpetrators.”
The gap between the federal government’s rhetoric and action on family violence was also in the minister’s sights.
Ms Richardson said the Abbott government was keen to talk about family violence but not so keen to provide funding. “Service providers spend their time trying to get more funding as opposed to getting on with the job of protecting women and children.”
The forum was organised by St Albans MP Natalie Suleyman and Footscray MP Marsha Thomson. If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au.
