Media coverage

A spokesperson from Safe and Equal, a body that specialises in family and gender-based violence, said it was essential that timely and clear updates are provided to impacted families.

“While the scale of this data breach was reportedly limited, even basic details like names, email addresses and schools can increase risks for victim-survivors and reveal information that has purposefully been kept from perpetrators for safety reasons.”

The spokesperson said any data breach involving children and young people was incredibly concerning, especially in the context of family violence.

Outgoing CEO of Safe & Equal, Victoria’s peak family violence body, Tania Farha, said the findings were crucial and suggested further investment was needed to make sure health professionals and family violence workers were equipped to screen for brain injuries amongst women experiencing violence.

“If we don’t take these steps, we’ll continue to see more chronic illness and injury resulting from family violence, which is a devastating consequence.”

Specialist family violence services across Victoria are continuing to see increased demand and complex cases, a new statewide report says. Safe and Equal released its Measuring Demand and Capacity report this month, which focuses on the capacity of the specialist family violence sector.

Victim-survivors, who are usually women, were being traumatised by being wrongly targeted with intervention orders and other legal actions, and the state government’s planned creation of coercive control as a stand-alone offence would mean more women were wrongly accused, said Tania Farha, outgoing chief executive of Safe and Equal – formerly Domestic Violence Victoria.

On Thursday, several groups including Djirra, the Federation of Community Legal Centres, InTouch, Law and Advocacy Centre for Women, No to Violence, Safe and Equal and Women’s Legal Service Victoria, issued a joint statement saying they did not support a new offence. They said:

“We are concerned the criminalisation of coercive control will lead to unintended consequences, particularly affecting marginalised communities such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, women from migrant and refugee communities, LGBTIQA+ communities, and women with disabilities, who are often wrongly identified by police as primary aggressors instead of those in need of safety.

“We also know that criminalising coercive control does not necessarily make victim survivors safer. Evidence from other states that have implemented standalone coercive control legislation shows that criminalisation does not reduce harm, nor result in increased prosecutions.”

The groups said coercive and controlling behaviour was already recognised in the state’s definition of family violence and in family violence intervention order applications. They said the criminal justice system needed to make “better use of this existing mechanism”.

They said both sides of government need to work with victim survivors, Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and legal groups on any proposed changes to ensure “they do not cause unintended consequences or harm to victim survivors”.

Safe and Equal chief executive Tania Farha on Tuesday questioned the AFL’s decision to clear the ex-Roo to play.

“True leadership in sport isn’t just about performance, it’s about settting a positive example for the wider community,” she said.

“Sporting clubs play a crucial role in promoting gender equality and addressing family and gender-based violence in the community.”

Safe and Equal also have practical advice. “Using violence is always a choice, and we need to make sure we don’t shift the blame from individuals who choose to perpetrate abuse, no matter the circumstances,” Tania Farha, CEO of Safe and Equal, told P.TV.

“While major sporting events can be a high-risk time for people experiencing family violence, they also present an opportunity for friends, family, neighbours and the broader community to step up and look out for each other,” she said.

“That can look like calling out sexist jokes, comments or behaviour at games or events. It can also look like reaching out and offering support to someone you think might be experiencing abuse… if they’re not ready to talk about it yet, that’s okay. Just by raising the issue and letting them know you’re there can plant the seed and make a huge difference to a victim survivor.”

Women’s safety groups (including the state-funded violence prevention agency Respect Victoria, Safe and Equal – formerly Domestic Violence Victoria – Gender Equity Victoria, Sexual Assault Services Victoria and Women’s Health in the South East) have released a joint statement saying hosting an artist who “has openly talked about and made money from violence against women” represents a failure by the AFL.

Closer to home, Safe and Equal teamed up with Council to Homeless Persons to deliver the Bridging the Gap between Homelessness and Family Violence Services report in July. This report focuses on the Victorian experience of homelessness. Shockingly, the state has the lowest proportion of social housing in the country at just 2.9 per cent and one third of people seeking homelessness assistance in Australia, live in Victoria

For Tania Farha, chief executive of Safe and Equal, the peak body for specialist family violence services in Victoria, the report is an opportunity to do both: to improve the way police are responding to family violence and to build and strengthen alternative supports for victim-survivors who don’t want to engage with police.

“What it really highlights is that police and justice system responses to family violence are not for everybody, nor have they ever been,” Ms Farha said. “But police are an important component of the system, particularly for those who want to engage with the justice system, and sometimes they’re the only appropriate response in high-risk situations.”

Tania Farha, CEO of Safe and Equal, says the ways in which children are impacted by domestic and family violence are extensive and profound.

“Exposure to family violence can be damaging to long-term development, physical and mental health, and future relationships,” she says.

Ms Farha says meeting developmental milestones, and a secure attachment to caregivers may be disrupted, for example.

Experiencing, and being exposed to, violence as a child stays with people into adulthood.

“When you’re a kid, and you experience these things, it impacts your basic sense of security,” Ms Farha says.

She says it’s “always in the back of your mind” that you may not be able to access food or housing security, for example.

Safe and Equal teamed up with Council to Homeless Persons for the report, with domestic and family violence being the single biggest driver of homelessness in Victoria. The state has the lowest proportion of social housing in the country (currently at 2.9 per cent) despite one third of people in Australia who are seeking homelessness assistance living in Victoria.