Indigenous Australians make up almost 30% of hospitalisations due to domestic violence, report finds
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up more than a quarter of all those hospitalised as a consequence of family or domestic violence over an eight-year period, a new report has shown.
An examination of hospital stays due to family and domestic violence from 2010–11 to 2018–19 showed 28% of those admitted were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders, despite Indigenous people making up only 3.3% of the population.
The report was one of three new data releases from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on Thursday, which also included a report on family and domestic violence service responses during Covid-19.
The government agency examined public hospital data from all state and territory jurisdictions except for Western Australia and the Northern Territory, which showed 34,416 hospital stays as a result of family and domestic violence until June 2019.
Those hospitalised for family and domestic violence were 1.3 times more likely to die than those hospitalised for other reasons, and 10 times more likely to die due to assault, the report said.
Seventy per cent of those hospitalised were female, 75% of whom reported that the perpetrator of violence was their partner. More than half of the males hospitalised as a result of family and domestic violence reported that their perpetrator was not their partner but another family member.
Antoinette Braybook, chief executive of Djirra, an Aboriginal family violence prevention organisation and legal service, told Guardian Australia that the cost of family and domestic violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had been estimated in the billions.
“What we see in our work is the many barriers that Aboriginal women face trying to access services. We see the racism that our women experience from police and mainstream services, and to add to that we see a lack of investment in Aboriginal community controlled organisations that specialise in providing culturally safe family violence services to our people,” Braybrook said.
“It’s going to take all levels of government investment to change this situation for Aboriginal women.”
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The accompanying new report, Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Service Responses in the Time of COVID-19, showed changes in the services accessed by people experiencing family and sexual violence during the pandemic.
Previously released data from the Australian Institute of Criminology has shown that in the 12 months to February 2021, one in three women experienced emotionally abusive, harassing or controlling behaviours, one in 10
experienced physical violence, and one in 12 experienced sexual violence from their partner.
Calls to Kids Helpline spiked in April 2020 when national lockdowns were in force, with instances of counselling for child abuse and family violence rising by 51% on April 2019. The numbers remained higher than previous years in the following months.
Child protection notifications – that is, allegations made to authorised departments, such as the police, alleging child abuse, neglect or harm – dropped in April 2020, but increased again in May and June, after Covid-19 restrictions had eased. “Similar falls and increases have previously been observed around school holiday periods, suggesting that the reduced opportunities for schools to report suspected child abuse also occurred during the shutdowns,” the report said.
The report also showed a drop in family and domestic violence crisis payments granted during the lockdown period. Such payments are only available to those on income support, and the drop also coincided with social support payments being double their usual rate.
“One of the drivers of violence against women is men’s control of decision-making and limits to women’s independence – something that plays out both in public life and in private relationships, when women have unequal access to economic resources,” said Patty Kinnersly, chief executive of Our Watch.
“Increasing women’s independence and economic security is one of the many actions we as a society need to take to help prevent violence against women.
“Violence against women is absolutely preventable, it is not a social condition that we have to put up with. We know, from a large body of research, that gender inequality creates the conditions for this violence to occur.”
Child protection notifications were particularly traumatic for Indigenous Australians, as they came with an increased threat of child removal.
Djirra has been calling for a referral scheme that requires the mother of any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child who has been the subject of a child protection notification to be immediately referred to Aboriginalowned and controlled legal services, much like the custody notification service that requires police to notify Aboriginal legal services when they take an Aboriginal person into custody.
“We have been saying for many years that we need national leadership to address the higher removal rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their mums and families and communities,” Braybrook said.
“Family violence is a key reason for child removal. What we see is the punitive approach from authorities – rather than helping Mum escape family violence, they blame her. There needs to be investment in supporting mothers, not removing children.”
• If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au; Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78; Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636. International helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org.