On October 19,2021 victims can apply for a payment of $5,000 Australian dollars ($3,700usd) for expenses. Open to all genders but women are expected to make up majority of applicants.
In Australia one woman is killed by a partner every nunedays. Australia has a gender pay gap of 13.4%. This can contribute to uneven power in relationships and make women economically vulnerable.
The pandemic has led to a spike in Australian family violence. Lockdowns prevented many women from leaving abusive relationships.
New South Wales announced the $484 million package (360 million usd) which includes 75 new women’s refugees with audiovisual rooms in court, communal kitchens, and playgrounds.
With Australia’s new efforts the rates remain high. A 2018 survey founf 1 in 5 Australians believe examples of domestic violence are “normal reactions to day-to-day stress and frustration”.
Indigenous women are 11 times more likely to die from the abuse than non-indigenous women. Indigenous women were too scared to report to the police, because of the threat of having their children removed.
After reading the article I noticed that in many countries other than the U.S normalizes domestic violence. Hopefully these efforts will change and rates of domestic violence decrease in Australia.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/19/australia/domestic-violence-payments-intl-hnk/index.html
I will be curious to see if these funds help, given that financial dependency often keeps women in these situations (as well as visa dependency among immigrant women, as we discussed).
And the fact that this many people see it as a normal response is certainly disturbing to learn.
This is a very interesting thing to see in today’s society considering that domestic violence has been a global issue for so long. To see a country take a step in combating domestic violence in such a helpful way can really show the progress we have made on addressing this issue. In just a few years ago, I do not think actions such as this would have been even thought of or passed in the court system because of society’s ignorance on the issue and how deep domestic violence has been impacting women and men alike, especially in violent situations. But, I think movements such as #MeToo has opened discussion on the realities of domestic violence and to see that in just Australia alone there is a victim who is killed from the actions of a violent partner every nine days can really begin to open the eyes of the public. To also highlight the fact that 1 in 5 Australians believe examples of domestic violence is just a normal reaction to the stresses of everyday life can show just some of the reasons why domestic violence is still an issue because of the ongoing normalization of domestic violence. Even though $3,700 USD is not a lot to make a lot of drastic changes, I’m happy that victims are being thought of more and are gradually being supported more by the government to leave their toxic situations before another victim is added to the sad statistic of domestic violence.