‘Extremely Disappointing’: Australia’s Plan to End Violence Ignores One-Third of Victims, Says Advocate Group

A man makes his way home from work on a bus as darkness falls in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oct. 10, 2005. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The government has continued pursuing its “gendered violence” strategy despite its failure to reduce domestic and family violence in the last decade, the One in Three campaign said.

Greg Andresen, the senior researcher at the One in Three campaign, told The Epoch Times that the advocacy group was “extremely disappointed” the Labor government’s new national plan to end violence did not include support for male victims.

One in Three advocates and raises public awareness for the needs of male victims of family violence and abuse.

“Naturally, we are extremely disappointed that the new Labor government has decided to ignore the one-third of victims of domestic and family violence and the half of victims of emotional abuse who are unlucky enough to have been born male,” Andresen said.

“Male victims of family, domestic, and sexual violence are completely ignored by the new national plan.”

The national plan, released on Oct. 17, outlined how gender inequality drove violence against women, with Minister for Women Katy Gallagher saying achieving gender equality was “at the core” of the government’s agenda.

The national plan defines “violence” as any sort of physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, social, spiritual, financial, and technology-facilitated abuse.

However, the 144-page document fails to mention “violence against men” a single time.

“The strategy will map out how we address the structural barriers and inequalities that are a major driver behind gender-based violence,” Gallagher said.

“No amount of violence is acceptable, and it is crucial that we talk honestly about some of the factors that contribute to violence against women and children and what we will do to address some of the underlying causes.”

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said it was important to have sustained, collective action across society to provide better protection to victim-survivors and hold perpetrators to account.

“Current rates of family, domestic, and sexual violence are unacceptable. We want to make these changes now so the next generation of women and children can live in a society free from violence,” she said.

National Plan Ignoring Established Risk Factors for Violence

Andresen said the gender-focused strategy for reducing violence has failed, and the claim that gender inequality was the primary driver of family, domestic, and sexual violence was without evidence.

“It ignores the established risk factors such as low income/unemployment, childhood-of-origin exposure to abuse and domestic violence, conduct disorder/anti-social personality, depression, drug and alcohol use, separation, and high-conflict/low satisfaction relationships,” he said.

Claire Lehmann, the founding editor of Quillette, wrote in The Australian that the biggest risk factor for sexual assault was not gender but childhood, according to the statistics.

“Boys aged zero to 17 incur almost double the risk of sexual assault than adult women do. Yet the National Plan contains nothing for these boys,” Andresen said.

The Epoch Times reached out to the office of Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth for comment but did not receive a response by publication.