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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-11-14 Daily Xml
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Domestic Violence

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (15:35): It is widely recognised that domestic violence is a prevalent issue in South Australia with all sides of the chamber having policies to work towards bringing an end to this problem. Australian police are confronted with thousands of cases of family violence every week. It is primarily a gendered crime with the majority of violence being perpetrated against women. Recent ABS figures convey that one in six Australian women have been subjected since the age of 15 to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or previous cohabiting partner. Children who witness or experience domestic violence become two to four times as likely to experience partner violence themselves as adults in comparison to people who have not.

Today, I will be focusing on the impact domestic violence has on migrant women. I will do so because, whilst, overall, migrant women report similar levels of domestic violence to other women, the impact is aggravated by the pressures of the migration experience generally. Partner visas comprise 83.3 per cent of all family migration, and 30.2 per cent of all migration to Australia. We need to appreciate that issues surrounding visa status have a detrimental impact on migrant women who experience domestic violence. It is used as a control measure to increase the woman's dependence on the perpetrator for both economic security and residency rights.

The fears surrounding migration and domestic violence are rife, with inadequate or misinformation surrounding threats of deportation, visa cancellation, and separation from children. Consequently, migrant women experiencing domestic violence feel isolated and tend to endure the violence for prolonged periods of time before seeking assistance. Keeping in mind the addition of family and community pressures, they are also more driven to attempt to resolve domestic violence without ending the relationship, in the interest of the children and preserving the family unit. We need to ensure that we address the barriers in our regulatory framework to ensure that migrant women can navigate the justice system, can engage with police, and are able to request assistance through support systems such as interpreters.

We need to appreciate that migrant women have limited knowledge about their legal rights in relation to family violence and, likewise, there needs to be further promotion of cultural awareness across justice and support systems. The government should be concentrating on measures that can be implemented to support and encourage migrant women: to provide education; to be able to navigate through support systems available in our state, particularly in the arena of family affairs; to build awareness and assistance for mental and physical health issues; and to enhance independence by recognition of their skills and qualifications.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting the strong women from the Council for Women of Diverse Cultural Background, where we discussed various issues of concern including the ratios of workers to residents in aged-care settings; visa workers and the potential for exploitation; and navigating domestic violence in South Australia as a migrant woman. Fundamentally, we discussed the various avenues where there are service gaps between government departments, which is preventing migrant women's ability to participate in our community.

As I mentioned earlier, all sides of the chamber have policies to combat and stop domestic violence in our society. We want to encourage women to come out and report it, but for many migrant women there is inadequate financial or emotional support to enable them to do so.

During my discussion with the council we spoke of a woman who had reported her husband for the violence inflicted on her family. He was sentenced to three months' gaol. However, during that period she will not be able to generate an income as she cannot work, nor can she access Centrelink. Many would say, 'But she can leave the country.' She can, but her young children cannot—and if she did, who would care for them? She is alone.

The matter is complex, and the stress and impact on the family's mental health is immeasurable. The only option available is an application for a 1410 Family Violence Provision from the federal government which, in itself, is complex and can take up to 10 months. In the case we discussed, the woman's husband will be out of gaol before she is able to obtain security. This is one example of the many inconsistencies in the system where the crossover of state and federal initiatives is counterintuitive.

The community wants to see an end to domestic violence, SAPOL believes in a zero-tolerance approach to domestic violence, and both sides of the council believe in working towards eradicating domestic violence. In the interests of this state, more needs to be done to advocate and break down the barriers associated with domestic violence.

Time expired.

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