National women’s leadership summit to tackle domestic violence against First Nations women

A national women’s leadership summit will be held in a bid to tackle the scourge of domestic violence and sexual assault against First Nations women. The Federal Government will on Thursday announce plans for the summit, which will be chaired by Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar. It will be used to help develop a new national action plan specifically focusing on ending violence against Indigenous women. The Government has also appointed Ms Oscar, a Bunuba woman from the Kimberley’s Fitzroy Crossing, and prominent academic Marcia Langton, a descendant of the Iman people of Queensland, as special advisers to the develop the plan. The announcement comes after criticism from Aboriginal leaders that domestic violence against First Nations women is not being afforded the same level of national attention and outrage as cases against non-Indigenous women. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 32 times more likely to be hospitalised and 11 times more likely to die from gender-based violence. The summit will be part of the existing Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices) Project which will be given an extra $2.8 million in funding over three years. Minister for Women’s Safety Anne Ruston said First Nations women had made it clear current policies were not working. “As policy makers we must hear, recognise and include the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and make sure they are empowered to develop and deliver programs for their communities,” she said. Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt said the new funding would also go to a research project to identify effective strengths based programs and approaches for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls. “The research will be used as the evidence base to help guide discussions at the national summit as well as providing a number of best practice examples,” Minister Wyatt said. Professor Langton said the rates of violence against Aboriginal women and girls “were simply not tolerable”. “The plans so far are clearly not working. They’re not reducing the rates of violence and hospitalisation. They’re not reducing the rates of children being removed from their families in many jurisdictions, and indeed, the rates of incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are increasing to the very great detriment of their families and their children,” she told The West Australian. And she said the deaths of Aboriginal women were not given the same national attention as non-Indigenous women. “It’s the pattern of dehumanisation of Aboriginal women that we see in the structural racism of institutions such as police forces, the child protection systems, and so many other essential services in our society,” she said. “Social determinants of health are contributing to this disaster as well. Overcrowded housing, poverty, unemployment, educational opportunity, and we have an obligation, I believe, to change, not just these social determinants of wellbeing, but also the attitudes that persist ... especially racism itself and contribute to these terrible outcomes.” 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)