December 13, 2024 | Katie Wand
The Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) has reported a six per cent increase in family violence incidents in Victoria in the last financial year, reaching a record high of 98,816 in 2023–24. The rise of incidents involving stalking and harassment, sexual assault, threats or harm to a family pet, controlling or jealous behaviour by the perpetrator, or financial abuse was most stark, with all risk factors increasing by 30 per cent or more.
Community legal centres provide critical legal assistance and a gateway to safety for people experiencing or at risk of family violence. Victim survivors turn to community legal centres for legal expertise and support with obtaining protection, setting up safe parenting arrangements, organising a new visa, getting into safe housing or making sure bills and bank accounts are dealt with fairly.
Last year, 44 per cent of clients at Victorian community legal centres were experiencing or at risk of family violence. And yet, there are many more victim survivors in our community who community legal centres are forced to turn away as a result of a lack of funding.
Barwon Community Legal Service is a regional community Legal Centre operating in the Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula, Surfcoast and Colac Otway regions. Family violence has risen in all of Barwon Community Legal Service’s catchments, but the greatest increase has occurred in Colac Otway, where family violence reports increased by 25 per cent in the last financial year. In 2023–24, more than 60 per cent of Barwon Community Legal Service’s clients were experiencing family violence.
Regional community legal centres such as Barwon Community Legal Service, and rural and remote centres, face specific challenges to their operations, including having to travel long distances to reach clients, gaps in government services outside of metropolitan areas, and difficulties in attracting and retaining staff. These centres are particularly strained to meet the huge legal need for family violence services seen in regional Victoria.
The CSA identified that the incidence of family violence in regional Victoria is almost double the incidence in metropolitan Melbourne. Bryanna Connell, CEO at Barwon Community Legal Service said: “We know that victim survivors are 10 times more likely to experience a legal problem compared to the general population, and that access to legal services is critical for preventing and responding to family violence.”
Djirra is a specialist family violence Community Legal Centre for Aboriginal women and children at risk of, or with an experience of, family violence. In Victoria, Aboriginal women are 45 times more likely to experience violence than other women. Nationally, they are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised for a violent assault, and seven times more likely to be murdered than other women.
Antoinette Braybrook AM, CEO at Djirra, says that the new CSA statistics are no surprise.
“In our work on the frontline of Aboriginal women’s safety, the demand for Djirra’s life-saving services in Victoria increased by 33 per cent in 2023 alone. The spike in demand is a direct result of both increased need and heightened awareness due to the rising rates of femicide and fears women have for their safety and their lives.”
Ms Braybrook notes that need for services is particularly acute in regional Victoria.
“Many women we work with across regional Victoria are unable to access housing, health and other specialist services. This is why the Victorian Government must urgently invest in the expansion of Djirra’s regional services, which will ensure no Aboriginal woman has to travel more than one hour or 100 kilometres to access our vital services for their safety”, she said.
Funding constraints greatly restrict all community legal centres’ capacity for service provision and the number of clients they can take on, directly impacting outcomes for victim survivors of family violence.
The devastating statistics released by the CSA fortify our call to action for sustainable funding for community legal centres to provide critical support in both preventing and responding to family violence.
Ms Connell said: “Currently, funding for legal services is nowhere close to what is required to meet the legal needs of all victim survivors of family violence in the Local Government Areas that we serve, and I know that the situation is the same throughout the state. We’re already at capacity – but demand continues to rise year on year. Something needs to change.”
Louisa Gibbs, CEO at the Federation of Community Legal Centres agrees: “Family violence legal services must be available to everyone who needs them, but there just isn’t the quantum of funding needed for community legal centres and other service providers to adequately respond. People who miss out on community legal services because we don’t have the funding to support them have nowhere else to go. That can mean returning to unsafe and dangerous family situations and further abuse.
“Demand for family violence legal services is rising sharply, and community legal centres are responding to this evolving legal need accordingly, but their impact is stifled by funding limitations. Our families in regional Victoria must be able to access services that keep them safe.”
For the opportunity to interview Bryanna Connell, CEO at Barwon Community Legal Service, Antoinette Braybrook, CEO at Djirra, or Louisa Gibbs, CEO at the Federation of Community Legal Centres, please contact Katie Wand via email at [email protected] or text at 0435 294 859 and she will be in touch.
