BY SARAH STEPHEN
In the past few weeks, you'd be forgiven for thinking that non-indigenous women had stopped suffering sexual and domestic violence decades ago.
That's because the framework that has been set for the discussion about violence against indigenous women is racist, treating violence against women as if it's some uniquely indigenous problem. The issue is being used as a stick with which to beat indigenous men, and to brandish them all as violent rapists.
The narrow confines of the discussion also conceal the woeful record of governments on this issue, and the steady decline in funding for programs which directly tackle domestic and sexual violence.
It is, nevertheless, a good thing that the discussion about rape and domestic violence has been opened up. There is still an overwhelming silence that surrounds these issues, both within and outside indigenous communities, a silence which prevents solutions being discussed, and demands being put on government.
Violence against women
The reality of violence against women in Australia, indigenous and non-indigenous, still paints a chilling picture. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 23% of women who have ever been married or in a de facto relationship experienced violence by a partner at some time during their relationship. More than one in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. One in three Australian families is subject to family violence.
The risks of domestic violence are much higher for women who are young, poor or Aboriginal. For example, indigenous women make up only 3% of the female population in Western Australia, yet they accounted for half of all domestic violence incidents reported to the police in 1994.
Indigenous women often don't report violent incidents because of a fear for their treatment, or their partner's treatment, at the hands of the police.
NSW indigenous magistrate Pat O'Shane commented in the June 22 Sydney Morning Herald that in her view, non-indigenous feminists do not have the right to define the problem. "The thing I can't cop — especially from white, middle-class feminist lawyers — is that it's always a gender war being played out. For indigenous people, race issues overwhelm gender issues. The reason many Aboriginal women do not go to the police when they are assaulted is because of the way the police treat the men."
O'Shane does make an important point. Because of the extreme levels of oppression faced by indigenous people, it's not possible for women in indigenous communities to call on the police to act as an arbiter between them and their violent partners in the same way as non-indigenous women can, because of the racist treatment that indigenous people are subjected to by the police. Many indigenous women feel compelled to side with indigenous men against their shared racist oppression.
It's not uncommon for an indigenous woman to call police to intervene in a domestic violence situation, only to be arrested for outstanding warrants. One woman spent three days in a police lockup and when she was let out, her violent husband had disappeared with the children. Others have suffered beatings and rape at the hands of police after reporting a domestic violence incident.
The reality is that the oppression faced by indigenous people is such that domestic violence is only one of a plethora of problems they have to cope with. Among the others are:
- Indigenous infant mortality rates are up to five times higher than the national average.
- Only 33% of indigenous children complete schooling compared to 77% for non-indigenous children. More than two thirds of secondary students in indigenous communities in the Northern Territory suffer significant hearing loss.
- By year 5, indigenous students have, on average, a literacy level that is two years below the average non-indigenous student.
- The unemployment rate among indigenous people is 38%, compared with around 6% for non-indigenous Australians.
- The average income of indigenous people is 65% that of the general population.
- Average life expectancy is up to 20 years below the non-indigenous average.
- Diabetes affects 30%, four times the non-indigenous rate.
- Infectious diseases are 12 times higher than the national average.
- Indigenous people are 17 times more likely to be arrested, 15 times more likely to be imprisoned and 17 times more likely to die in custody than non-indigenous Australians.
Government hypocrisy
Federal government ministers have been quick to show concern for this "major national crisis" of domestic violence in indigenous communities. The violence suffered by indigenous women, at the hands of black and white men, certainly is a major social crisis, but the Howard government's response to the issue falls far short of demonstrating a sincere commitment to tackling the issue.
The government has given public assurances that it is committed to a "renewed national effort" against domestic violence. Aboriginal affairs minister Philip Ruddock has promised to raise the issue at a ministerial meeting in July, but he has been very short on detail. What he has made clear is the government's refusal to commit more funding to tackle the problem, and he has echoed the sentiments of justice minister Amanda Vanstone that "you can't just throw money at it".
Boni Robertson, author of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women's task force on violence report in 1999, has received a lot of press in the past few weeks for her horrifying anecdotal accounts of domestic and sexual violence in indigenous communities, but the political dimensions of her report have received much less coverage. She points out that indigenous women's groups have been calling for assistance for more than a decade.
What is starkly absent from the public discussion at present is a process of identifying policy measures which will help stop violence against women. If there was any discussion at this level, it would begin to reveal the inadequacy of the government's approach.
Initial pressure from an organised feminist movement demanding action against domestic and sexual violence saw a number of women's refuges set up from the 1970s onward. Since the early 1980s, however, funding for women's services has been in decline.
Across Australia there is enormous unmet demand for crisis services by women desperate to flee violent and dangerous situations. In 1992, only 19% of women seeking emergency refuge from violent situations in Victoria were successful.
The federal government, according to Vanstone, is already spending a "very significant amount" on combating domestic violence.
While it is difficult to trace the exact funding picture for domestic violence, because it is distributed among many different departments and is tied to different projects from year to year, the best indicators of funding priorities are the adequacy of base-line, essential services such as refuges.
The 2001-2 federal budget allocated $16.5 million over the four years for domestic violence, in addition to the $50 million allocated in 1997. This extra $16.5 million includes funding for (unspecified) projects, community education and promotion of "best practice" across agencies. However, this funding does not address the yawning gap in crisis services, which should be the first priority for a government serious about stopping violence against women.
In 1997, the states and territories spent $13 million on shelters and other services for women fleeing domestic violence. The trend of some of this state-allocated spending is disturbing. In May this year the Tasmanian government indicated its plan to convert refuges into services for the homeless. Four women's refuges are required to re-tender for the services they currently provide, but with less emphasis on women and children escaping violence, and more emphasis on the needs of homeless people in general.
The national umbrella group for women's refuges, Women's Services Network (WESNET), will close in early July after the government decided not to renew its funding.
A survey on domestic violence conducted in Albany in June this year found that nearly half of local men in their 20s believe it is sometimes the only way to resolve problems in their personal relationships with women. Only 30% said there was never an excuse for such violence.
Funding cuts
In an attempt to dodge discussion of the government's broader responsibility, the corporate media has pointed the finger at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, declaring that the solutions to domestic violence in indigenous communities have to come from within it. It has viciously attacked ATSIC's funding priorities in relation to domestic violence.
An editorial in the June 28 Australian argued: "The problem is so dire it should be — and should always have been — one of ATSIC's top priorities. Instead, the ATSIC board has been scandalously slow even to admit that a problem exists... ATSIC's present allocation to anti-violence strategies ($3.9 million) remains pathetically meagre... ATSIC should be able to unveil a plan of action: what it plans to do, how much it will spend, when and where. It plainly has no such plan and this is shameful. Its brazen neglect of this issue will only harden the scepticism of those who say ATSIC should be abolished, as it serves little purpose in helping indigenous people".
Is it ATSIC's responsibility alone to resolve the problem of domestic violence within indigenous communities? A brief survey of ATSIC's funding situation shows that it's not remotely possible without a huge funding boost.
Most of the ATSIC budget is spent on maintaining work for the dole schemes for unemployed Aborigines, and on Aboriginal housing and essential infrastructure programs. Most of its expenditure therefore substitutes for government assistance programs. Moreover, in the five years since 1996, the government has cut ATSIC's operating budget by one third, a drop of $470 million to just under $1 billion.
In a June 27 media release, ATSIC commissioner Jenny Pryor stated: "[Our programs] have been severely limited by the meagre resources allocated to ATSIC by the commonwealth government, the devastating cuts to our budget in 1996, and the quarantining of our budget since then. We can do no more with our current resources than to provide supplementary funding [to domestic violence programs]."
Very few services exist for indigenous women to turn to for help. For example, Western Australia has 32 refuges for women escaping violence. Only one specifically caters for indigenous women.
There is an urgent need to massively increase services for indigenous women — cheap housing, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centres, health centres and counselling facilities. These services need to be run and staffed by indigenous women to be truly effective in relating to indigenous women's needs.
A key barrier to reporting and taking action against perpetrators of domestic violence is a fear of the racist treatment of Aboriginal men if they are reported. Aboriginal communities could be policed by community-controlled police drawn from residents of the community. Priority also needs to be given to training Aboriginal lawyers.
The solution also lies in tackling the broader issue of racist discrimination and disadvantage which affects indigenous men and women alike, and creates the breeding-ground for despair and alienation which contributes to the level of violence in indigenous communities.
To deal with issues of domestic violence in non-racist ways, indigenous women need to have control of funding — to begin to organise themselves, to educate themselves and their communities, and to provide necessary services and support. The discussion around domestic violence within indigenous communities reinforces the need for indigenous control over funding for their own services.