Women in refuges
By Maria Caltabiano
Women in refuges who are escaping domestic violence may not be able to escape the government knowing all about them if the newly proposed data collection scheme goes ahead.
Refuges are funded through the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP), which also funds youth services.
Here, I would like to bring to attention, and question, the government's direction in regard to both the control it appears to desire over people's lives and the responsibility that it has to provide adequate resources to community-based services.
Up until now, the amount of identifying information collected from and about women has been understandably minimal, so as to lessen the possibility of them being found by violent partners. This has meant that information given to government funding bodies has been quantitative only (number of women and kids using refuge).
It seems now, however, that the government is very interested in "tracking" (SAAP's terminology) women and children through the system — supposedly so it knows where gaps in services lie and where inefficiencies exist. To achieve this, information is to be sought regarding women's initials (first two initials of each name), their age, ethnicity, previous address, economic situation and more.
In addition, women and children in refuges are also classified as "homeless" — a term both provocative and alarming in its ignorance of the political dimensions of domestic violence.
The proposed method of processing and storing this data is through the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Even though many assurances have been given us regarding their confidentiality, we remain unconvinced. This is due to our experiences with perpetrators accessing information through other government agencies like the DSS.
As refuge workers, we are concerned about the impact that requiring such data from women will have on the way that refuges could be viewed. It seems that quite a large act of faith is required of women escaping violent partners in giving the information that is requested. Refuges also run the risk of being complicit with the government, whose aims and treatment of women can run contrary to the reasons refuges exist.
This is not to say that we do not agree with the government being able to "see" what the problem looks like — just not at the expense of women. A possible alternative that has not been discussed is data collection on perpetrators. From our perspective, the proposed scheme appears to be another elaborate way of blaming women for men's violence.
For women escaping the microcosm of patriarchy — a violent partner — surrendering information to the macrocosm, which is as potentially abusive, is a challenge to why feminist refuges operate in the first place.
We are attempting to organise on a grassroots national level and welcome any support that individuals or groups can afford by way of letters of protest. These can be forwarded to: Women's House Shelta, PO Box 3398, South Brisbane 4101, ph (07) 844 4009.
[Maria Caltabiano is a member of the Women's House Shelta collective.]