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Intervention orders fail Indigenous victims
26 November 2004
Indigenous people throughout Victoria are shying away from the legal system that is supposed to protect them from family violence, Victorian Law Reform Commissioner Judith Peirce said today.
“Too many Indigenous people are suffering from family violence and not seeking protection, which tells us that the Crimes (Family Violence) Act is not doing its job,” Ms Peirce said.
The Commission has met with many Indigenous groups in the past year to research its Family Violence Consultation Paper, which was released today in Melbourne. The paper is part of the first comprehensive review of the intervention order system, which has operated in Victoria for the past 17 years.
“Intervention orders work for some people, but we’ve heard that for many people there are more problems than there are benefits,” Ms Peirce said.
“Indigenous people endure all the problems with the system that everyone else does but then have to face a raft of other issues.
“Perceptions of racism among police and court staff, fear of family members being jailed or children taken away, and a lack of culturally aware support workers all stop many Indigenous people from accessing the system.
“We heard that court staff are sometimes not helpful when Indigenous people apply for orders, as one said ‘if a person does not speak like a white person, the court staff…look at them like they’re dumb’.
“We heard that racist stereotypes of Indigenous people meant that some police ignored breaches of orders because of perceptions that Indigenous people were always violent towards each other.
“Indigenous women also suffer from stereotypes of how a family violence victim should behave. If they fought back or resisted the abuse then they were less likely to be perceived as the victim and more likely to be seen as part of the problem.
“In our consultation paper we’ve detailed all the areas where problems occur, and ask people how the system could be improved. We need to think about how the justice system overall can best protect people from family violence.
For more information see the Family Violence Consultation Paper Fact Sheets.