About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

30 Austl. Feminist L.J. 149 (2009)
I Have Seen Violence towards Women Every Day of My Life: Australia, 2009

handle is hein.journals/afemlj30 and id is 157 raw text is: 'I HAVE SEEN VIOLENCE TOWARDS WOMEN EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE': AUSTRALIA, 2009 Bess Nungarrayl Price1 2 I want to thank Minister Jenny Macklin for giving me this opportunity to attend this forum . I am delighted to be here, to share our views as we try to understand the culture of domestic violence and the affect it has on our society. In any community, it takes courage to report domestic violence and the abuse, but in Aboriginal communities it takes even more emotional strength to do so. When victims have courageously spoken about it, it has led to inter-family warfare, ostracism, and retribution. And what of other methods to control male violence and abuse? Domestic violence laws do not work in remote communities, because police will rarely attend domestic disputes. There aren't enough police to enforce a restraining order and the communities, and their councils are dominated by men who are not going to refer women's complaints to the police. To publicly admit to being a victim of domestic violence takes an immense amount of strength. I grew up in Yuendumu, and I myself have been a victim, I have scars that decorate my body. I have seen violence towards women every day of my life, and these are my close relatives I'm talking about. A grand-daughter who's a punching bag, who's jaw was broken, who doesn't know how to say 'no' and that 'enough's enough'. Another grand-daughter who was killed by her ex husband who got sentenced to 9 years but will be out after 4 and a half because he pleaded guilty, only stabbed once and he is black and so was his victim. The ambulance took an hour to get to her while it waited for a police escort. She could have been saved, if it had got there earlier. Ambulance officers often get attacked on town camps, when they go to help our people. The town camps are full of violence. I can go on forever about numbers of other relatives who have been in that situation. How can we help her and the others and the children. The children who have grown to think that violence is part of our life and that it's normal. How can we make a better future for our children, when our very own men in our community are saying, 'women do not have any power in the eyes of Aboriginal law'. That is a Bess Nungarravi Price was born at Yuendumu. Her first language is Warlpiri, she also knows Lurioja and Western Arrernte. She has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Aboriginal Community Management and Development from Curtin University and has worked in education and training, public administration, the media, community development, interpreting, translating and language teaching and has experience in small business management. She has represented Central Australia at conferences in Quebec and Beijing.Email: piiji@bigpond.net.au 2 Indigenous Family Violence Forum, Canberra, 31 January 2009. Convenor, Minister Jenny Macklin, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Australian Goverment. Co-convenor, Minister Tanya Plibersek, Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women, Australian Government.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most