Aboriginal community led responses

Family violence is not part of Aboriginal cultures and its impacts must be understood in the context of historic and ongoing colonisation, genocide, systemic violence, racism, family separation and intergenerational trauma.

This definition acknowledges the spiritual and cultural perpetration of family violence by non-Aboriginal people against Aboriginal partners, children, young people and extended family members; abuse of Elders; and lateral violence within Aboriginal communities.

The Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Task Force (Department of Health and Human Services, 2018) defines family violence against Aboriginal people as “an issue focused around a wide range of physical, emotional, sexual, social, spiritual, cultural, psychological and economic abuses that occur within families, intimate relationships, extended families, kinship networks and communities … [i]t extends to one-on-one fighting, abuse of Indigenous community workers as well as self-harm, injury and suicide”.

Additionally, Dhelk Dja (an Aboriginal-led Victorian agreement addressing family violence) acknowledges the spiritual and cultural perpetration of family violence by non-Aboriginal people against Aboriginal partners, children, young people and extended family members: abuse of Elders: and lateral violence within Aboriginal communities. 

Family violence against Aboriginal people and communities is situated within the context of historic and ongoing impacts of colonisation, genocide, systemic violence, racism, family separation and intergenerational trauma (Department of Victorian Communities, 2003; Department of Health and Human Services, 2018).

The right of Aboriginal people to self-determination is enshrined in multiple international and domestic human rights instruments₁. 

Dhelk Dja: Safe Our Way – Strong Culture, Strong Peoples, Strong Families (the Aboriginal 10 year family violence agreement 2018–2028) recognises the enduring leadership of Aboriginal Elders and communities in Victoria as preventing and responding to family violence for Aboriginal people, while also acknowledging the devastating impacts and accumulation of trauma across generations – the result of colonisation, genocide and the violent dispossession of land and children. 

In the specialist family violence sector, we are quick to apply intersectionality as a solution to address the exclusion that the system has produced. We must highlight Australia’s colonial history to ethically discuss other forms of discrimination including racism, poverty, police violence, war and occupation, violence against women and environmental justice, rather than treating the concerns of Aboriginal people as one issue among many others.

In Victoria, there are a range of Aboriginal specialist family violence services located within Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs), or programs in community health services or local family violence services. 

Depending on the type of organisation and funding contracts, these services provide different responses such as case management, accommodation, therapeutic programs and other tailored programs for their client group. 

For a list of family violence services, including ACCOs, go to: https://www.vic.gov.au/family-violence-statewide-support-services