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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-11-28 Daily Xml
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Domestic Violence Victims

The Hon. L.A. HENDERSON (15:17): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs a question about domestic violence towards Aboriginal women.

Leave granted.

The Hon. L.A. HENDERSON: Recently, The Advertiser reported that over the past 12 months the domestic violence crisis line fielded around 35,000 calls, of which 30 per cent or around 10,500 calls were not answered due to lack of funding. In this article it was noted that there are a growing number of Aboriginal mothers with babies seeking crisis housing. My questions to the minister are:

1. How many Aboriginal women have used the DV crisis line this year compared with last?

2. How many of these women are currently in need of emergency housing?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:18): I thank the honourable member for her question. I don't have a breakdown of figures, but I will take it on notice, go away and see whether I can find a breakdown of figures. The issue of people who experience domestic, family or sexual violence is an extraordinarily serious one, not just in South Australia but across Australia. I think on average one woman every single week around this nation loses their life at the hands of a current or former partner.

A royal commission is underway in South Australia at the moment that I know has started taking evidence. I am aware that there is an intention to have a lot of discussions and seek the advice of Aboriginal people and Aboriginal communities as part of that royal commission. I understand the First Nations Voice, whose leadership made an address to this parliament in a joint sitting in this chamber just yesterday, either have or will be providing—I think they already have a submission to that royal commission.

It was either just last week or the week before I was very pleased to attend the 50th anniversary of an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation providing services to women who are victim survivors of family and domestic violence in Adelaide, and I was extraordinarily impressed with the range of services and the culturally inclusive, thoughtful and respectful way that that is provided.

As we see with statistics, every year there are handed down in the Closing the Gap report many elements of life that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly women and girls, are behind their non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander counterparts. I will get the statistics but I am sure they bear out that in that area of life there needs to be more work done and that there is a gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal experiences in this area too.

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