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Adams, Rene; Hunter, Yasmin --- "Surviving Justice: Family Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Sexual Assault in Remote Aboriginal Communities in NSW" [2007] IndigLawB 64; (2007) 7(1) Indigenous Law Bulletin 26

Surviving Justice: Family Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Sexual Assault in Remote Aboriginal Communities in NSW

by Rene Adams and Yasmin Hunter

Family Violence and Sexual Assault

The problems for remote Aboriginal communities need to be understood by honestly looking at Australian history. There are a huge number of difficulties that Aboriginal communities face as a result of colonisation. The colonisers tried to kill Aboriginal people with guns and diseases; whole tribes were herded together and murdered. Despite all of this, Aboriginal people are still here and surviving. The causes of family violence and sexual assault in remote communities are complex, and we don’t have all of the answers. However, we believe that the violent behaviour in Aboriginal communities follows on from the violence perpetrated on these communities by the colonisers.

Remote communities are diverse, but they nonetheless have some common elements. They are small, with populations ranging from 80 to a few thousand people. They usually have very limited access to many things taken for granted: large supermarkets, clothing stores, entertainment, mobile phone coverage, public transport, etc. Many of these communities used to have missions on the edge of town.

Family violence and sexual assault are enormous problems in remote New South Wales (‘NSW’). An Aboriginal woman is up to 6.6 times more likely to be a victim of a violent offence than the average woman in NSW.[1] In 2004, the majority of the top ten Local Government Areas with the highest levels of domestic assaults were in remote areas.[2] In our experience, the majority of physical and sexual assaults are not reported to the police, and we believe that both sexual assault and child sexual assault is occurring at epidemic levels.

Family violence is seen as a norm in Aboriginal communities. Women can be walking around the town with black eyes, with some women believing that if their partners don’t hit them, they don’t love them. When a man is flogging his partner, people in the community will often not interfere because they believe that family violence is ‘their business’. This makes it hard for victims to disclose violence or ask other community members for their support.

When family violence occurs, the charges are frequently dropped because the victim does not attend court. This could be because the victim is scared of being bashed again by her partner or his family, or it could be that her partner says that he’s sorry, and she forgives him. Sometimes women will not leave a violent relationship, because of the consequences for their family. If the police are called, they may take the woman and her children to a refuge which requires mandatory notification to the Department of Community Services (‘DoCS’). This means that there is a risk that DoCS will become involved in the family, or that the children may be removed. Therefore, the choice that women have is to either stay at home and be bashed, or leave the relationship and be case-managed by DoCS.

In remote Aboriginal communities, there is no such thing as ‘stranger danger’. Perpetrators of child sexual assault are almost always known to the family, or are part of the family. In many communities, a cycle of abuse has been established and it is intergenerational. Because it is so common, it is very difficult for the behaviour to be identified as wrong or for people to speak up.

Adult sexual assault is still not seen as an issue. People believe that the police won’t come if there is abuse within the family, but alternatively would enforce a hard stance against a home invasion by a stranger. Sexual assault is frequently a part of violent relationships, with the perpetrators often comprising family members or acquaintances. While there has been some discussion in communities about family violence, there is still a lot of shame attached to sexual assault and victims find it very difficult to report.

Almost all of the women and children exposed to family violence and sexual assault are severely affected by the acts of violence. These disorders are usually undiagnosed and the victims are left to cope with these symptoms on their own. Drug and alcohol abuse is common among victims in these areas, and it is used as a means of blocking out memories of the abuse. A significant number of victims become suicidal.

Barriers to Accessing the Legal System

Many remote communities have a long history of racism against Aboriginal people. This history can make it difficult for Aboriginal victims to trust the police, but racist behaviour by the police can also present a barrier. It can be very difficult for a victim to approach the police when they have used capsicum spray on her brother or thrown racist insults at her. It can also be difficult for community members to approach the police when there is a history of family violence offences not being taken seriously.

Some communities do not have a police station, and the nearest station two hours’ drive away. There may be a ‘doorbell’ that people can use to call the police, but this is practically useless in an emergency situation. A community often relies on a public phonebox, but these are frequently broken. Many remote towns do not have mobile phone reception. Therefore, if the victim does not have a car, they are extremely isolated.

In some remote communities, there is no local court. In other communities, the local court sits every fortnight, or every month. There is no access to District Courts or Family Courts in these communities. If people are involved in proceedings in these courts, they may have to travel for hours to attend court. For many Aboriginal women, they have to take their children with them to the regional centre where they are attending court, as there is no safe place to leave kids in their community.

Community gossip spreads very quickly, especially as the Local Court is a public arena, where anyone in the town can attend and find out who is in court. Many courts in remote areas do not have ‘safe rooms’, where victims of violence can wait for their matter to be heard in court without having to be in contact with the perpetrator. This means that the victim has to wait outside the court, standing metres away from the perpetrator and his family.

There is a lack of accessible legal services in country NSW that can assist victims of family violence and sexual assault. A large number of Aboriginal women in these areas are receiving Centrelink benefits. This means that they have a very limited income, and are not able to afford mainstream legal services. In addition, a number of Aboriginal women in remote NSW have limited literacy, and are not able to understand written documents, making it hard for them to communicate with private solicitors.

The Aboriginal Legal Service (‘ALS’) has a number of offices across NSW. The ALS provides representation and legal assistance to Aboriginal people in NSW without a means test. However, they have a priority for representation of defendants in criminal matters, and are severely under-funded for the amount of need in the community. This has meant that Aboriginal women and children who are victims of violence are often unable to access the ALS for assistance.

The Legal Aid Commission (‘LAC’) is funded to provide assistance to financially disadvantaged people in NSW. LAC can provide telephone advice to people in remote communities, but they do not provide assistance or representation in person for a large part of the State. Some towns have private solicitors who are willing to act on a grant of legal aid. For towns that don’t have this, victims of violence are forced to self-represent, travel to a large town, or sort out their problems outside the legal system.

In criminal trials for family violence or sexual assault, victims sometimes find that the trial is just as bad as the actual assault. Their words get twisted by defence solicitors when they are giving evidence, they can easily get confused and intimidated by the system, and they are frequently accused of lying or making up stories of violence in order to get victims compensation.

When a victim makes an application for victims compensation, they encounter further difficulties. The Victims Compensation Tribunal can place too much emphasis on a victim’s failure to report the violence to the police. This can make it very difficult for victims to receive compensation when they have been severely injured by violence, but feel unable to report to police. The dismissal of their application can add to the sense that no one believes or supports them.

Barriers to Accessing Support Services

Many rural and remote communities have gone for years without access to a counsellor, psychologist or sexual assault worker. When they seek assistance, they are told to talk to a counsellor over the phone, or travel to the nearest town to see a counsellor. This might be two hours away, and the victim might not have access to a car.

Support positions in regional and remote areas are under-funded for the amount of need that exists. Some offices are operating with just one worker, and there is no local support or back-up for this worker. They are often expected to cover an unrealistic area, which could include a 15-hour round trip.

Community workers in remote communities often experience high levels of burnout and, at times, young workers are thrown into these towns with no supervision or debriefing. Workers who live in these communities can find it difficult to have a life of their own, because they are on-call all the time. If they support victims, they are frequently threatened by perpetrators. Workers can end up leaving the community after only a short period there. It takes the community a while to trust the workers who come into the town and by the time that trust is gained, the community worker may have moved on and it will take more time for the community to trust the next worker.

In small communities, victims are often worried about attending support services or disclosing violence. This can be because of a fear that the information won’t be kept confidential, or it could be because a relative of theirs or of the perpetrator works at the service they are attending. This fear can keep victims away from the services.

Potential Solutions

Government departments and community organisations need to start listening to and working with Aboriginal communities on the ground. They need to give the communities the power to solve their own problems as it is essential that the solutions come from within the community. Attempts in the past have seen consultation with Aboriginal communities, yet have still failed. It is very difficult to understand the situation for someone who hasn’t lived in the community and does not know the values.

In 2006, the NSW Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce released their report ‘Breaking the Silence – Creating the Future: Addressing Child Sexual Assault in Aboriginal Communities’.[3] This report included 118 recommendations for improving conditions in Aboriginal communities in order to eradicate child sexual assault.

In some of the consultations, victims were disclosing sexual assaults while the person who sexually assaulted them and their family members were sitting in the same room. Despite all of these difficulties, the women in remote communities were strong and told their stories once again. They were assured that this would not lead to another report to sit on a shelf, and that something would be done. To date, there has been no funding allocated for the recommendations. It is not even clear who is driving the process as questions remain unanswered and nobody is holding the NSW Government accountable for this.

As a starting point, remote communities need access to basic services, including transport, communication facilities, police, solicitors, safe houses, safe rooms, counsellors and support services. These services need to be developed in consultation with the community, and the community needs to have control over them. Aboriginal staff need to be employed in the service, and all services need to be delivered in a culturally appropriate fashion. Funding for any new services or projects should also involve ongoing commitments to the community.

Police, courts and the legal system would benefit from being more aware of the needs of Aboriginal women and children who have experienced violence. There are a number of changes that could be made to the legal process to make victims feel that the system is helping them, rather than exacerbating their problems.[4]

All people have a right to be safe. For Aboriginal women and children living in remote communities, life can be very dangerous. Yet this danger is not solely the fault of the community. It is time for responsibility to be taken by all sections of the community by addressing these problems and eradicating violence from Aboriginal communities.

Rene Adams is the Coordinator of Indigenous Women’s Services at Women’s Legal Services NSW. Yasmin Hunter is a Solicitor for the Bourke/Brewarrina Family Violence Prevention Legal Service which is auspiced by Women’s Legal Services NSW. This paper is an edited version of a presentation to the Victims’ Rights: Taking a Closer Look conference of ‘National Victims of Crime’ (Sydney, 2-3 October 2007).


[1] Jacqueline Fitzgerald and Don Weatherburn (NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research), ‘Aboriginal Victimisation and Offending: The Picture from Police Records’ in Crime and Justice Statistics: Bureau Brief (2001).

[2] Julie People, ‘Trends and Patterns in Domestic Violence Assaults’ in Crime and Justice Bulletin: Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice Number 89 (2005).

[3] NSW Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Task Force, Breaking the Silence: Creating the Future (2006).

[4] For more information on this, see NSW Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce, ibid and Criminal Justice Sexual Offenders Taskforce, Responding to sexual assault: the way forward (2006).