Braybrook, Antoinette --- "The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Violence Prevention Legal Service: Working with Indigenous Women and their Communities" [2004] IndigLawB 35; (2004) 6(2) Indigenous Law Bulletin 9
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Violence Prevention Legal Service: Working with Indigenous Women and their Communities
by Antoinette Braybrook
Indigenous women have and continue to face many challenges in their lives, none more so than those who have experienced family violence and sexual assault. Apart from enduring the trauma of physical and emotional abuse, Indigenous women have until fairly recent times had to negotiate their way through a limited and sometimes hostile service network when they have had to seek legal and other assistance.
The landscape of legal service provision to Indigenous women who are victims of family and sexual assault is slowly changing. The setting up of Family Violence Prevention Legal Services across Australia has gone some way to improving access to services for Indigenous women.
The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission (‘ATSIC’) has identified family violence and sexual assault as being one of the most serious issues confronting Indigenous communities. As a result, ATSIS[1] has funded 13 Family Violence Prevention Legal Services to provide ‘services to victims of family violence and sexual assault and where appropriate to work with the families and communities affected by it.’[2] These legal services are to implement a range of holistic programs which encompass direct services to victims of family violence and sexual assault and the development and delivery of preventative and educational initiatives.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation Family Violence Prevention Legal Service Victoria (‘FVPLS Victoria’) is located in Melbourne’s central business district. Incorporated in 2002, the FVPLS Victoria is unique in that it stands alone as an autonomous service provider with wholly Indigenous governance.
As a relatively new service the FVPLS Victoria has shaped its service delivery in response to the policy direction set by ATSIC, and articulated in the ATSIC National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services Program Operational Framework, and most importantly in response to the needs of the Victorian Indigenous communities. With representation from both the ATSIC Tumbukka and Binjirru Regions on the FVPLS’ Board of Management, the FVPLS Victoria is guided by the priorities and principles set by both elected Indigenous councils.
The Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Taskforce in its Final Report has described the overwhelming nature and extent of family violence and sexual assault by stating that ‘1in 3 Indigenous people are the victims, have a relative who is a victim or witnesses an act of violence on a daily basis in our communities across Victoria’.[3] The Final Report identifies that the victims of family violence and sexual assault are predominantly women, and states further that ‘Indigenous women are more likely to die from a violent death than non Indigenous women and are more likely to be victims of family violence than non Indigenous women.’[4]
In response, the FVPLS Victoria has made Indigenous women who are victims of family violence and sexual assault the primary focus of its service delivery. Cognisant of the need to protect the safety of women, the FVPLS Victoria is situated in a geographically neutral location away from areas where the abuse may have occurred. The FVPLS will not provide services to perpetrators of family violence and sexual assault, thus again ensuring the safety of women who use the service.
The FVPLS Victoria offers a range of services including legal advice and casework to women who are victims of family violence and sexual assault, together with crisis counselling and support. The FVPLS Victoria also provides outreach services to Indigenous women at Victoria’s only Aboriginal women’s refuge. To make its services readily accessible to Indigenous women residing in regional Victoria, the FVPLS Victoria has also established a free call number.
Together with providing direct services the FVPLS Victoria has the broader role of working with non-Indigenous service providers to improve access to their services for Indigenous women who are victims of family violence and sexual assault.
The FVPLS Victoria is also active in lobbying both state and federal funding bodies to improve service delivery to Indigenous women in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous legal and community sectors.
In developing and providing services to Indigenous women who are victims of family violence and sexual assault the FVPLS Victoria must take into account the depth and complexity of the issues confronting them. The causes of and the solution to family violence and sexual assault cannot be found in singular explanations or approaches. In order to address family violence and sexual assault, the FVPLS Victoria (as a result of the limited funding available), must inevitably engage in partnerships with external service providers. In doing so the FVPLS Victoria is raising awareness of the issues associated with family violence and sexual assault and improving the cultural sensitivity of services not historically accessed by Indigenous women.
Whilst there is an apparent improvement in service delivery to Indigenous women who are victims of family violence and sexual assault, there have been dramatic changes to the funding and policy direction of many Indigenous services. The Howard government’s decision to abolish ATSIC and to redirect funding for Indigenous programs to mainstream government agencies has created an uncertain future for many Indigenous organisations including the ATSIS-funded Family Violence Prevention Legal Services Program, and therefore the FVPLS Victoria. As such the FVPLS Victoria is unsure as to the nature and extent of services it will be able to provide Indigenous women, as the organisation itself is under threat.
The FVPLS Victoria has worked hard to create confidence in its service amongst the Victorian Indigenous communities, and to secure the sometimes fragile trust of those women it was established to serve. With the lack of clarity surrounding the future of the service it is difficult to promote our organisation and to engage those who have traditionally been alienated from this sector.
The FVPLS Victoria continues to work with Indigenous women who are victims of family violence and sexual assault. The FVPLS Victoria will also continue to work with the Victorian Indigenous communities to address family violence and sexual assault. We have learnt many things from those who seek our assistance but most particularly – it is important to find your voice and to have the strength to speak up despite how hard this can sometimes be.
Antoinette Braybrook is the Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation Family Violence Prevention Legal Service Victoria (FVPLS Victoria).
[1] Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Services – an Executive Agency of the Commonwealth Government, appointed to administer programs which were previously the responsibility of ATSIC.
[2] National Family Violence Prevention and Legal Services Program Operational Framework, (2003) 1.
[3] Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Taskforce Final Report December 2003.
[4] Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Taskforce Final Report December 2003.