Domestic violence: significance and impact
Discuss about the Domestic And Family Violence in Australia.
The subject matter of the case is based on the domestic and family violence in Australia. Family Law Act 1975 has given a clear definition regarding the term. According to this Act, when an individual put another member of the same family on fear to cause harm to that person, it causes domestic violence. Under this offence, criminal violence can be observed between the people who have intimate relationship. The provision of domestic violence will apply on the same sex person. According to the “Fact file: Domestic Violence in Australia” (2016), it has been observed that one in three women and one in five men in Australia are experiencing family abuse from their spouses or family members. Further, it has been reported in “One in Three Campaign: Infographic” (2016), “every ten days, a male Australian died between the year 2010 and 2012”. In this report, the significance, impact and frequency of family violence have been discussed. Further, a critical analysis regarding the facts of the case has been stated.
The crime related to the domestic violence is a societal curse. It weakens the relation bond among family members. According to the report submitted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, most of the family members who are suffering from family violence could not file their case or make any complaint before the police station and this mentality provokes the offender. It has been reported in 2016 in Melbourne that almost 21% of the family violence have involved alcohol cases. More critically, a major part of the victim is below the age of fifteen years and they are facing physical and sexual abuse from their family members. According to the police report of 2016, Victoria leads the filing domestic violence cases in Australia. Therefore, it can be stated that in Australia, the offence related to the domestic violence is significant in nature and it creates great impact on the society. the violence against the Australian women were for the first time reported in the year 1996 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and according to this report, most of the women are ill-treated by their families and the members are coerced them so that they could not file any allegation against them. Considering the vehement nature of the offence, the then Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard had taken many steps to resolve the issues. A program named ‘Partnerships against Domestic Violence’ had been promoted to identify the sources of the offence and steps had been taken to mitigate the problem. In the year 2001, an initiative against the sexual assault has been taken and the organization succeeds to resolve the dispute to certain extent. Many divorce cases have been filed due to the excessive family violence and in the year 2009, certain initiatives have been taken by the government to generate certain cost to the victim. A program has been promoted named in 2009 named ‘The Cost of Violence against Women and their Children’ to estimate certain cost to the affected persons. However, even after so many steps taken by the government, it has been observed that the scope of the offence could not be mitigated and the rate of offence has been increased. The offence related to the family violence has been occurred invariably in Victoria that reflects the inability of respective state to curb the offence. However, the government has taken certain measures to compensate the victims and in 2015, the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had taken certain monetary measures to the victims of domestic violence. However, in the absence of any strict rules and application of the same, the offence could not be stopped and therefore, all these initiatives reflect the government’s inabilities. Further, the government has failed to strict the provision relating to the sexual offence generated by the family members of the victim. Being a federal country, legislative application in every states of Australia is different and these cause a great dilemma to the legislative body. Therefore, it is required to implement certain uniform law regarding the same.
Critical analysis
Daniel Andrews opines (2016) that the Family Law Act 2008 has failed to make a proper approach and it failed to apply successfully on the offenders and this cause a mass killing of 32 members in a family of Victoria. Therefore, certain strict steps are required to be taken to stop the frequent incidents of family violence in each state of Australia. It has been clarified from the report of the Australian Bureau of Statistics; the frequent nature of the domestic violence has reflected the government’s inability regarding control over the issues. Further, it has been observed that the state government has organized many compensatory schemes. However, all were in vain in the absence of any proper application of the rules. Therefore, it is to be stated that the government should take a close vigil over these issues. Further, according to the police report submitted in the year 2016, it has been stated that Victoria has secured the highest state for domestic violence. Further, it has been quoted by Anne Summers (2016) that” “… the incontrovertible truth about domestic violence, that it is overwhelmingly concentrated in dysfunctional remote Indigenous communities and public housing estates.” The idea of feminism has been generated regarding the excessive commission of domestic violence. According to certain protesters, the male dominating society has failed to identify the source of the offences and government has failed to lower the risks regarding the domestic violence. However, according to Natasha Stott Despoja (2016), the offence relating to the domestic violence should not be discriminated in nature and according to the reports of Australia, both the male and the female has to face the problems regarding family violence. Therefore, she has stated that the offence regarding family violence should not be discriminated and regardless of ethnicity. In addition to this, according to BOSCAR report, risk of violence is generated due to financial stress and personal stress.
It is the duty of the government to take considerable steps against the crime and according to Mike Baird (2015), the government needs to promote a program to understand the issues cropped up in the family and mitigate those issues to stop this crime. Further, it has been observed that many states have enacted certain rules to stop the violence. In Victoria, Family Violence Protection Act 2008 has governed all the rules regarding the domestic violence. However, in the absence of proper application of the Act, family related violence could not be chased and stopped. According to Daniel Andrews, “We’ll overhaul our broken support system from the bottom up”.
Further, the incident of series of family violence in Victoria has been criticized and the Australian government has to rethink over the issue. The most remarkable incident regarding the crime is the story of Luke Betty who was killed by his father. Such incidents are quite frequent in Australia and therefore, there is a need of proper implementation of the legislations has been cropped up.
Every individual has certain fundamental rights and the nature of those rights is legal. According to the basic principle of law, every person should enjoy his right to life and liberty. Anything that goes against this could be treated as violation to the fundamental rights. Considering the effectiveness of domestic violence, it can be stated that it is a direct abuse against all these basic rights of a human being. According to the definition of domestic violence, their family members affect the victims and they are usually getting physically or sexually abused. This act snatches the rights to life and liberty and they are restrained to make any complaint before the authority. It has been proved by the report made by Australian Bureau of Statistics (1997) that most of the victims are undemonstrative to file complaint against all the crimes committed against them due to family pressure. All these mentalities have gone against the moral principle of human right.
Conclusion:
Therefore, it can be stated that in Australia, the offence regarding domestic violence has been regarded as one of the most serious social curse and the failure of government has made the crime more violent. Further, the laxities of the governmental implementation policies have made the condition worse. Certain gaps are identified where it has been observed that the whole system of domestic violence is suffering from weak policy implementation. Further, no effort from the government has been taken to prevent the occurrence of family violence. In addition to this, no positive response has been derived from the part of the government and there are few resources to help the victims economically. The government has to create effective legal provisions to stop the phenomenon.
Considering various issues and incidents of family violence, certain recommendations have been cropped up that are states as follows:
- It is recommended that the Australian government is required to make proper implementation of those Acts enacted for settling the dispute of domestic violence;
- It is recommended that a uniform code of law be required to prevent the crime.
- The risk assessment and management panel should be more careful about the application of this crime.
- The government is recommended to promote programs where certain counseling process regarding the victims could be taken. This will help the government to identify the rate of domestic violence in the family.
- The government should give importance to all the matter of domestic violence and all the disputes should be resolved by emergency service.
- The Australian government has taken many steps on the subject bit failed to apply the provisions specifically. Therefore, it is recommended to make considerable approaches regarding the same.
- The agencies appointed to lower the risk of domestic violence should have to share the information in confidential way and helping hand should be extended to the victims so that they can get through the problems.
- The Australian government is required to make all the amendments as against the provisions of the present law and make the penalty provision stricter.
References:
“Australian police deal with domestic violence every two minutes”. 2016-04-21. Retrieved 2016-08-24
“EXPERIMENTAL FAMILY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE STATISTICS”. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 23 Sep 2015. Retrieved 2 Sep 2016
“One in Three Campaign – Infographic”. www.oneinthree.com.au. Retrieved 2016-09-05
“Royal Commission into Family Violence – Full Report – Interactive”(PDF). Victorian Government. March 2016. Retrieved 24 Aug 2016
“The Cost of Violence against Women and their Children” (PDF). Department of Social Services. March 2009. Retrieved 2 Sep 2016
Boyle, Peter. “Unionists rally against domestic violence.” Green Left Weekly 1156 (2017): 4.
Buzawa, Eve S., and Carl G. Buzawa, eds. Global Responses to Domestic Violence. Springer, 2017.
Fact file: Domestic violence in Australia”. 2016-04-05. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
Family violence, alcohol consumption and the likelihood of criminal offences(PDF). Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Crime Statistics Agency. December 2016. p. 4. ISSN 2205-6378
Goodman, Lisa A., et al. “Bringing a network-oriented approach to domestic violence services: A focus group exploration of promising practices.” Violence against women22.1 (2016): 64-89.
Hunter, Tara, et al. “Experience of domestic violence routine screening in Family Planning NSW clinics.” Sexual health 14.2 (2016): 155-163.
Roberts, Donna, Peter Chamberlain, and Paul Delfabbro. “Women’s experiences of the processes associated with the family court of Australia in the context of domestic violence: A thematic analysis.” Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 22.4 (2015): 599-615.
Simpson, Sue. “Unions playing role to end family violence.” Education 96.3 (2015): 7.
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