The historic launch of the first dedicated national plan on violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Canberra this month marked a decade of campaigning led by First Nations women advocates who knew the horrific toll that violence is having on our women, children and in our communities.
It was clear that increased policy commitment and investment as well as transformation of institutions, was critically needed.
We are Indigenous women who led advocacy globally and nationally for this plan and worked for decades on the frontline for women's safety, advocating for services, reforms and calling out discrimination that so many First Nations women continue to experience.
Our Ways - Strong Ways - Our Voices was led by First Nations women, including women with lived Experience, who understand the impacts of violence, which is a form of discrimination according to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. We know our communities, especially women and children are suffering. The national plan marks a firm commitment from all - Commonwealth, States and Territories, to Aboriginal governance and an action and implementation plan to be developed.
This year alone there have been eight Australian women killed, with four of the women Aboriginal - the most recent in Albany, WA. All the victims are in fact Aboriginal or Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD women) and yet we make up about three per cent of the national women's population. The over-representation is staggering. Women's need for advocacy and support is critical to navigating the service responses, which too often are discriminatory and even punitive to women.
The Specialist Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Services (FVPLSs) are federally funded services that have worked on the frontline of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children safety for more than a quarter of a century and have been the first door for thousands of Aboriginal women impacted by violence. As such, we have considerable expertise, trust and confidence, and this must be supported to expand services further so more women and children can thrive, not just survive.
There is a critical opportunity now for the Commonwealth Department of Social Services under the standalone plan launched to strengthen this work by providing funding to expand case management, counselling and vital early intervention programs to compliment the legal services they are funded to provide by the Attorney General Department. These services are essential to building and maintaining trust and confidence for women to disclose violence, breaking social isolation and creating additional, culturally safe access points to support that prioritise women's safety.
Only last month, Sophie Quinn (25) who was seven months pregnant, was allegedly shot dead by her ex-partner, a non-Aboriginal man, Julian Ingram. He also allegedly killed in cold blood her aunty Nerida Quinn (50) and partner John Harris.
Ingram had a family violence order against him for allegedly stalking, assaulting and intimidating Sophie yet was granted bail although the police recognised he posed a risk to Sophie. We frequently see Aboriginal women's safety ignored.
The problem of systemic discrimination against Aboriginal women in the justice system will not go away of its own accord.
We need bolder responses and law reforms; the WA Family Violence Legislative Reform Evidentiary Act 2020 reforms, and following the wrong conviction of Jody Gore, go some way to ensuring this violence is better acknowledged in the justice system. Yet we clearly need Aboriginal family violence experts appointed to provide reports to courts for women. This is particularly important because Coercive control laws implemented across Australia are leading to more Aboriginal women being 'misidentified' or racially profiled as perpetrators and prosecuted as such. We warned that this would happen but were ignored in the rush for the laws.
Increasingly Aboriginal women are blamed and punished for the violence they experience, with their children, even as babies, taken by the 'welfare' never to be returned. Many children are never reunified and do not experience safety in out of home care. That is why Aboriginal family violence advocates must always be engaged, and we call for a mandatory notification process to ensure mums are referred to an FVPLS whenever child protection become involved.
We also call for an end to closed court processes that remove children while mothers are denied any natural justice or ability to respond. Aboriginal elders and respected people must sit with the courts to advise on appropriate responses.
The launch of the plan was accompanied by an announcement by minister Tanya Plibersek of $218 million of new funding over four years for up to 40 Aboriginal community-controlled organisation to deliver specialist support services. It's important that existing organisations that have the expertise, frontline experience are further supported to grow and meet the demand.
This Plan gives a real opportunity to finally make progress on ending violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, its success depends on government's listening, working with us and remembering that our self-determined leadership and knowledge is critical to its future.
Antoinette Braybrook AM is the CEO of Djirra, Co-Chair of Change the Record, and a proud Kuku Yalanji woman.
Dr Hannah McGlade is a Kurin Minang human rights expert and law academic.
