In early August, the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA) hosted their inaugural First Nations Forum in Brisbane, involving leaders from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community led legal and social services sector and other services supporting First Nations children and families through the family law system. QIFVLS was delighted to be invited to this important event, which was attended by our CEO Wynetta Dewis and Principal Legal Officer Thelma Schwartz.
Over the past several years FCFCOA has committed to initiatives aimed at improving access to justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. As part of that commitment, the Hon Chief Justice Alstergren AO, together with the Courts’ First Nations staff, initiated this event as an opportunity to start a journey of meaningful collaboration with First Nations communities, to increase their cultural capability and knowledge.
The Forum brought together more than 80 key stakeholders, including Judges, Registrars, Court Child Experts and Indigenous Family Liaison Officers who work collaboratively within the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
QIFVLS CEO Wynetta Dewis is optimistic that the proative work by the FCFCOA will result in genuine reform and commented: ‘QIFVLS welcomed the opportunity by Chief Justice of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, the Hon Will Alstergen AO, to attend the First Nations Forum. We heard from ACCOs how the FCFCOA can better engage and support First Nations peoples. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia to build upon their good work, assisting First Nations families’.
QIFVLS CEO Wynetta Dewis and Principal Legal Officer Thelma Schwartz pictured above with Chief Justice the Honourable William Alstergren AO and Di Simpson, Chair of the Executive of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia.
After two years and 16 hearings, the Senate Inquiry into Missing and Murdered First Nations women handed down its report on August 15. While important, it was not the moment of reckoning many in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island community had hoped for.
The Senate inquiry was introduced and spearheaded by Dorinda Cox, the West Australian Greens Senator, who called the report’s recommendations “weak” and “toothless”.
The inquiry came after other nations, such as Canada and the United States, held their own inquiries into missing and murdered Indigenous women. Australia’s own report about the appalling rates of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women was comparatively benign.
NO ONE’S COUNTING
The inquiry’s terms of reference focused on missing and murdered First Nations women and children. It sought to examine the extent of the problem, comparing investigation practices between First Nations and non-First Nations cases, examining systemic causes, the effectiveness of existing policies, and exploring actions to reduce violence and improve safety.
Additionally, they consider how to honour and commemorate the victims and survivors. By their own reports, the committee was deeply affected and disturbed by the stories they heard. What the inquiry found is precisely what First Nations women have been saying for decades: that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children are disproportionately impacted by men’s use of violence; That their stories and lives are ignored by mainstream media; That police often fail to adequately investigate, search for, or respond to calls for help from First Nations women and children; And that the data is shockingly incomplete and inadequate.
EXTREME RATES OF VIOLENCE
Despite the flawed data, what was evident was the extreme and disproportionate rate of violence against First Nations women.
National Homicide Monitoring Program data on murdered First Nations women and children from 1989–1990 to 2022–2023 show 476 women were recorded as victims of homicide (murder and manslaughter). 158 children were recorded as victims of homicide (murder, manslaughter and infanticide).
First Nations women represented 16% of all Australian women homicide victims, despite comprising between 2–3% of the adult female population. First Nations children represented 13% of all child homicide victims.
Counting missing First Nations women and children was equally problematic, somewhat owing to some jurisdictions not recording Indigenous status in their figures.
The Senate inquiry heard 20% of missing women in Australia are Aboriginal women. The report found First Nations children and youth are over-represented in the out-of-home care system (approximately one in 18) and ar markedly overrepresented in reports of missing children. These children make up 53% of missing children reports.
Not only are First Nations women and children more likely to go missing, they are less likely to be found.
The inquiry also heard the problematic nature of the language of “missing” as being passive, and somehow suggestive that people go deliberately missing.
CONSISTENT LEGAL FAILINGS
The Senate committee also heard these missing and disappeared First Nations women and children, and their families and communities, were regularly and routinely failed by policing and legal systems.
These systems were often regarded as another harm or threat by First Nations women and children, who were at times over-policed, and at other times, under-policed.
First Nations women are also disproportionately misidentified as the perpetrator, instead of the victim, criminalising First Nations women and creating yet another barrier to getting help. These issues are intertwined with the dehumanisation of First Nations women and children that manifests in them not being searched for adequately or mourned in the media. There is insufficient accountability for their murders.
What is truly missing in this report is exactly that: accountability. Missing from the narrative is the focus on the users of violence and the state systems that have caused harm and repeatedly failed to support First Nations women and children.
It is this lack of accountability that has prompted Cox to say the report is simply “not enough”.
FALLING WELL SHORT
The report makes ten recommendations. One is co-designing a culturally appropriate way to recognise murdered or disappeared First Nations women and children.
Another is the appointment of a First Nations person with the specific responsibility for advocating for, and addressing violence against, these women and children. This role would be within the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission.
It also recommends policing practices be harmonised across the country to help close data gaps and create guidelines for the review of past cases. These would then be monitored for progress.
A sustainable funding mechanism for work in this area was also recommended, alongside a request for the media to reflect on the findings of the report, namely the portrayal of these cases in the news.
Guidelines for reporting already exist.
The Senate inquiry was an important step. And these recommendations are welcome. But they do not go far enough.
Original article published in: theconversation.com, August 16 2024
The Cairns Office was out among the local community again in August, this time at Wuchopperen Health Service in Manoora, that was hosting a National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day event.
QIFVLS Case Management Office, Lateesha Johnstone had the opportunity to speak with Bumma Bippera Media 98.7about the vital services QIFVLS provides.
QIFVLS is delighted to welcome Adam Perkins to the team as he takes up the role of Case Management Practice Manager and Cultural Advisor.
Adam comes to QIFVLS with experience across a variety of roles including Indigenous Liaison Officer, First Nations recruiter, Counsellor and Teacher. His traditional mob are Arrernte, from Central Australia, although he’s a self-declared city boy, growing up in Melbourne and Adelaide, and calling Brisbane home for most of his adult life.
Adam says his urban background, with its melting pot of influences, personalities and cultural diversity has contributed to his natural skill for facilitation and delivering results that are built on consensus.
‘Wellbeing is really important’ says Adam ‘along with cultural safety, for both our clients and for the staff that work here’.
Adam is looking forward to travelling to each of the offices in the coming weeks and months, meeting with staff and gaining an understanding of the unique characteristics of each region. Make him welcome when he drops into your area soon.
One month after the launch of our NO2DV Campaign, the Ambassador nominations are rolling in. Unsurprisingly, community members believe in the importance of this message and far too often have their own DV experience to draw from.
Our latest Ambassadors, clockwise from top left, include Gavin Power from Brisbane. Through his many roles, including Assistant Director – Engagements and Partnerships with the Department of Education, Gav has developed a deep understanding of the complexities surrounding DFV and advocates for the safety and well-being of those affected. Julie-ann Lambourne is from Cairns but works across Queensland: Business woman. Public speaker. Survivor of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Committed to driving education for perpetrators and improved support services for victim-survivors. Beau Pennefather Motlop, Cairns. As a young First Nations man growing up, Beau was exposed to the devasting impacts of domestic violence and now dedicates his work as an artist to shining a light on this social cancer where it appears in his community. Wendy Wust from Kowanyama. Wendy is heavily engaged with Community Justice within her remote Queensland region, and is a tireless campaigner for systemic reform and improved resourcing for this underfunded sector.
Our NO2DV merchandise is currently in production and we look forward to making it available soon!
OCM: Hi Evan, Let’s start with where you were born and raised.
Evan: I was born in Mt Isa (Kalkadoon Country) and did most of most of my schooling and sports there. I’ve got connections also in the Gulf too, I’m Garawa / Waanyi / Alyawarre on my mother’s side, and Garawa / Waanyi / Alyawarre on my dad’s side. I did a school-based carpentry apprenticeship at Mt Isa State High School and graduated in 1999. I also spent a lot of time in Townsville and Brisbane though, with different sporting opportunities and football development squads.
After graduating I moved down to the Sunny Coast to finish my apprenticeship, where I built a lot of houses. I was there, and in Brisbane, for about three years down before I went into mining construction.
OCM: Around that time did you have aspirations to be a professional football player?
Evan: Yeah, I had the Broncos and St George Illawarra, the Dragons, looking at me back then, but eventually I just got home sick and was missing my family, so I ended up just playing for the local league, the Wanderers.
OCM: Are you still playing?
Evan: No, it’s just coaching and mentoring for me now. The body just isn’t up to it anymore.
OCM: Tell us a little bit about your family.
Evan: I have a sister who is two years younger than me, and I have a lot of cousins from my mum’s side, who we had our family gatherings with. I grew up more with my mum’s side, just because dad left when I was two years old. I knew who he was and I spent time with his family but I never really got to know him, and he passed away 11 years ago.
Another grandmother was actually from the Stolen Generation and was taken to Alice Springs when she was 10 because her dad was a full-blood Irishman.
OCM: Ah Wing is a rather unusual name. Where did that come from?
Evan: I go under my mum’s maiden name and it comes down from her great grandfather He came over from China and arrived in Darwin about 1901. Unlike a lot of the Chinese who came for the gold, he set himself as a up as a tailor in Darwin. Eventually he met my Great Grandmother Doris and my pop was born in Camooweal. My pop started work at the age of eight as a drover and remembers the American soldiers in town during World War Two handing out food. Pop had incredible work ethic and dragged himself up to become a Surveying Engineer and became my role model. He showed me the importance of resilience and hard work. Through my elders, and especially through for my pop, I learnt that if you want something, you’ve got to work hard for it – so I’ve worked since I was a young age.
OCM: Your background is such a rich tapestry Evan.
Evan: There’s a lot of stuff that I’m still learning about my identity and where I’m from. There’s a lot of things I’m picking up on, including my original bloodlines especially up in the Gulf. It’s wonderful to know where you come from because I think once you know that, you know where you’re headed.
OCM: So where did life take you then?
Evan: In 2005 I got into mining construction with Aaron’s Engineering in Mt Isa. They’re a big Brisbane-based company that had the contract to build a new zinc filter plant at the Mt Isa mines, including about $45 million worth of infrastructure. After that I joined Mt Isa Mines as a Process Technician and worked there for another three years.
By 2010 I was really feeling that I needed a change and wanted to get into community work as a youth worker or with kids on the street. I wanted to give back to community and to be a good role model. I was grateful that I’d had really good role models when I was growing up, like my uncles, and they’ve always been hard workers and very respectful towards women. I didn’t grow up with DV in with my immediate family but with other family members there was a lot of trauma and grief.
It wasn’t easy for me to get a foot into that world to start with. No one wanted to give me a shot, because of my lack of experience and formal qualifications, until a crowd called Young People Ahead gave me an opportunity as a VSM youth worker – that’s a volatile, subtances misuse youth worker – and from there I pretty much excelled and went into residential work and coordinating positions.
I did return to the mines for a couple of years when I was offered a pretty good job as a Construction Supervisor Mentor out near Camooweal, but eventually I found my way back to Young People Ahead in a coordinator and caseworker role.
OCM: The community and youth roles are clearly where your passion lies.
Evan: Yeah, I’m very passionate about helping young people to learn that they’ve got a choice to change their life and get on the right track. And it was wonderful to get listen to their stories and to help guide them in the right direction.
I was with Young People Ahead up until 2020 and I learnt a lot from my time with them. It was the first time I’d ever used computer, but I’d become pretty proficient them with all the programs by end of my time there.
After that, I moved across to a role with the Catholic Church developing support plans for young people coming out of Cleveland Correctional Centre. So I was with them for a couple of years before I joined an organisation here in Townsville called STEPS Group Australia who are pretty much like a Disability Employment Service.
OCM: So what attracted to you to join QIFVLS?
Evan: I’d heard of QIFVLS in Mt Isa since about 2009, so I’d been aware of them for a long time. When I was working with Youth Justice I’d become interested in Family Law, so that was also in the back of my mind. Then I was just scrolling through Facebook one day when an ad for a Case Management Officer with QIFVLS caught my eye and started me thinking, oh, this would be a wonderful opportunity to learn and develop my knowledge in the legal sector, and specifically in family law. So, I thought I’d give it a crack and I’ve been on board for 10 months now and am really enjoying it.
I love the community, the community engagement, also just work that we do. I think it’s very rewarding and satisfying to know when come five o’clock comes that you’ve done your best and genuinely helped someone.
OCM: What about your time off, what does Evan get up to?
Evan: One of the reasons I wanted to move to Townsville was so I could go to the NRL games when they’re here. I’m not actually a Cowboys supporter, I’m a Brisbane Broncos man! Apart from the football, it’s all really about family – family is the most important thing. A lot of my little nephews and nieces play sport so I’m always attending sports games. We like to going out and do a bit of fishing. And I also get up to the Gulf a bit, to Mornington Island, where I learn about my culture – the hunting and gathering though the different seasons.
OCM: Thanks for sharing your story with us Evan.
When an individual or organisation makes a tax deductible donation to QIFVLS, they can be confident that their funds are going towards making a tangible difference to the safety and welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing or at risk of domestic and family violence.
Our team are grateful for all donations that help our not-for-profit organisation to continue offering this critical service. Donations of $1,000 or more help fund outreach services to some of Queensland’s most remote ATSI communities.
Are you in search of a rewarding profession that will take you on journeys through the breathtaking landscapes of Queensland? One that promises not only career advancement and skill enhancement, but also attractive perks, substantial travel allowances, and one-of-a-kind professional adventures? Are you drawn to a career that enables you to make a positive difference in the lives of others?
Look no further – your new career awaits you! At QIFVLS, we are dedicated to combating Family and Domestic Violence within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities. Our methods encompass education, advocacy, legal reform, court support, and casework assistance. By focusing on early intervention and prevention, our aim is to empower individuals impacted by Family Violence to regain control over their lives. We are in search of outstanding and dynamic individuals who can join us in achieving this mission.
If you envision yourself fitting into this scenario, we encourage you to see what’s available here.
