Although they are at a high risk for domestic abuse, Aboriginal women and children in Australia lack legal representation, a federal report says.
A June 2005 report by the Australian Federal Parliamentary Committee, Access of Indigenous Australians to Law and Justice Services, detailed several reasons for the justice system s inability to fully represent indigenous women in domestic violence cases. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSILS) is often restricted in providing services to women and children who are victims of domestic violence because it is already representing the offender, the report says.
"If an offense is committed, the police act fairly quickly to charge somebody," the Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission, states in the federal report. "The offender therefore appears at the Aboriginal Legal Services beforehand, either in custody or because they have been required to go to court. By the time the victim ... appears, ATSILS is conflicted from providing any assistance in family, crime compensation, or domestic violence matters.
Although ATSILS is not the only legal aid service available to Aboriginal peoples, few organizations focus on domestic violence, states the report. Thirteen Family Violence Prevention Legal Services offices operate throughout Australia and the Australian government plans to open 13 new offices near rural and remote communities.
"The introduction of Family Violence Legal Prevention units by the federal government, dedicated to working with Aboriginal women, may make a significant difference to rates of representation," said Harry Blagg of the University Western Australia Crime Research in an e-mail interview.
"Indigenous women require a service that is specific to them," a representative of the Law Society of South Australia states in the federal report. "There are real conflict issues if you expect indigenous males and females to be in the same service ... It is extremely difficult for women to share the same [law firms] with male perpetrators of violence.
The parliamentary committee report recommends that future contracts between the attorney general and ATSILS designate specific quotas of family, civil, and criminal cases and are given enough funding to meet those requirements. The committee also recommends that Family Violence Prevention Legal Services focuses on providing family and civil law services to indigenous peoples through legal representation.
Aboriginal women are up to 45 times more likely to be victims of family violence than non-Aboriginal women, Blagg said. He noted that in Western Australia, while Aboriginal women make up only four percent of the population, they make up half the reported cases of spousal assault.
Speak Out Speak Strong, a 2003 Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council report, said that 21 percent of all Aboriginal homicide victims were killed by their spouses and that in Western Australia, Aboriginal women were 36 times more likely to be victims of abuse from their spouse. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that in 2003 in New South Wales 4,294 indigenous peoples per 100,000 reported a domestic violence-related assault.
"The problems begin at first contact with the system—the police—and reflect ... entrenched views that violence [toward women] is more accepted in the Aboriginal community," Blagg said. The federal report says that this ignorance is one of the fundamental obstacles in combating family violence.
"Aboriginal women have many of the answers," Blagg said. He emphasized that the justice system should not treat them as passive victims. To lower domestic abuse rates in Aboriginal communities, he said, those in the system should respect Aboriginal law, rather than seeing it as the problem.
"There's a whole lot of contributing factors, but I don't think there's any one answer," said Rachael Martin, principal solicitor of the Wirringa Baiya Women s Legal Center of North South Wales, about the prevalence of domestic abuse in Aboriginal communities. Explanations for abuse, she said, may stem from the legacy of the colonization of Aboriginal communities, economic problems, alcohol and drug abuse, and emotions over the Stolen Generation that remain poignant for many.
"A lot of people are living with grief, sadness, and anger," Martin said. "I think that's often shown in violence. In some families, violence is just the way they express themselves. It's become inter-generational."
