Senate Inquiry Into Domestic Violence ‘Epidemic’ for Indigenous Women Highlights Systemic Failings

Aboriginal women gather to meet Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough as he arrives for a meeting with the Mutitjulu community in Mutitjulu, near Alice Springs, Australia, on July 6, 2007. Ian Waldie/Getty Images

A Senate inquiry looking into statistics that show First Nations women are about 12 times more likely than the national average to be murdered heard how victims are falling through the cracks due to failings across the social spectrum.

The inquiry heard from organisations working to combat domestic, family, and sexual violence. It is the latest in a series held across the country, spurned by a 2022 investigation by ABC’s Four Corners that highlighted 315 cases of Indigenous women who were either murdered or disappeared in unexplained circumstances over the past two decades.

The hearing in Darwin is of special significance as the Northern Territory (NT) has the worst domestic violence rates in Australia. It is focused on finding solutions to the violence against Indigenous women and their children.

The deaths of of four Indigenous NT women—Kumanjayi Haywood, Ngeygo Ragurrk, Miss Yunupiŋu, and Kumarn Rubuntja—last year prompted a coronial inquiry.

Coroner Elisabeth Armitage said at the time the state was experiencing a domestic violence “epidemic.”

“We never imagined that we would be able to delve as deeply as we have into so many different areas that are involved and affected by the domestic violence epidemic that we’re living in at the moment. We can’t allow this level of harm to continue to occur in our communities,” Judge Armitage said.

Assisting the judge was Counsel Peggy Dwyer, who said the core of the offending stemmed from a lack of state funding to properly investigate offences and the reasons behind them.

“The underfunding [of the sector] is chronic and shocking and I think exceeds what we understood to be the extent of the problem,” Ms. Dwyer said.

“We are dealing with generations of neglect and underfunding.”

Walpiri community members wait to meet coroner Elisabeth Armitage at the local police station in the outback community of Yuendumu, northwest of Alice Springs, Australia, on Nov. 15, 2022. AAP Image/Aaron Bunch

Myriad of Failings Promoting Violence, Say Experts

Indigenous women in the NT are 13 times more likely to be murdered by their domestic partner than non-indigenous.

Witnesses called at the inquiry painted a picture of how racial stereotyping, inadequate policing methods, and a lack of cultural understanding from law enforcement and social services were harming victims of domestic abuse.

Giving evidence was family and sexual violence researcher Chay Brown.

“As shocking as these figures may be, they only tell a fraction of the story or the very tip of the iceberg,” she said.

Under-reporting of offences, bred by a lack of trust in the police, is represented by a statistic that showed only about 10 percent of offences were reported to the authorities.

“When it comes to intimate partner violence or domestic violence homicides, the reality is is that no one is keeping count,” Ms. Brown added.

North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service (NAAFLS) principal legal officer James Lowrey told the inquiry that the NT was failing “base level areas” which include the provision of safe houses in every community, Indigenous language interpreters being available for victims, dispute resolution services, and a lack of targeted men’s behaviour adjustment programs.

Rachael Hill, from the North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service (NAAFLS), agreed there are not enough safe houses, detailing that there were just 19 facilities across 49 communities.

“These are chronically underfunded, understaffed, and undervalued yet when properly funded, they were a source of employment, a symbol of women’s rights, and a source of community pride, such as the Galiwinku women’s space,” she said.

“The one takeaway message ... is that the only way to tackle domestic violence in our 49 remote communities is community.”

Attempts were made in 2020 to address the systemic failings. Input from stakeholders and the legal fraternity led to amendments to the state’s Domestic and Family Violence Act, the Bail Act 1982, the Criminal Code, and the Sentencing Act 1995.

Among the changes was the creation of a new charge of “choking, suffocation, and strangulation in a domestic relationship.” Another amendment afforded defendants greater access to rehabilitation programs.

In response to a social media campaign called “Close the gap,” which aimed to address inequality within the Indigenous population, then Federal Minister for Women Anne Ruston allocated $10.7 million in 2022 “to boost frontline services in the Northern Territory in response to the chronic rates of violence.”

Former  Minister for Families and Social Services Anne Ruston allocated 10.7 million to try and combat violence in the NT.Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Victims Sometimes Become Offenders

Rachel Neary, the coordinator of the Kungas (Women) Stopping Violence Program, said the trauma experienced by many women from being victims of domestic violence has in turn pushed them into incarceration.

The program is run by the North Australia Aboriginal Justice Association (NAAJA), which works with Indigenous women who have been through the prison system and have a history of violent offences.

“There are also overlaps with women who have disappeared into alcoholism as a way of dealing with the domestic violence and trauma that they have experienced, often compounded by childhood and adult unresolved grief and trauma,” Ms. Neary said.

“These women are often so isolated and the cycles of attending rehab centres and prisons and living lives with homelessness, experiencing extreme levels of violence.”

She told the inquiry many of the victims she works with “feel like they’ve been forgotten or don’t exist.”

“Though alive, incarceration means they have little or no access to family, country and culture, and services,” she added.