WUNRN
Australia –
WWDA-Women with Disabilities Australia, Urges Australian Government to Include
Disabled Women in the Recently Announced Women & Children Violence Funding
Package
The
Australian Government recently announced a $100 million package of measures to
provide an increased safety-net for women and children at high risk of
experiencing violence. The package aims to improve frontline support and
services, leverage innovative technologies to keep women safe, and provide
education resources to help change community attitudes to violence and abuse.
WWDA
welcomed the announcement of the funding package from Prime Minister Malcolm
Turnbull and Minister for Women Senator Michaelia Cash and will continue to
advocate at a national and international level to ensure that the scourge of
violence against women remains on national and global agendas.
WWDA
believes that ALL women and children in Australia have the right to feel safe
and live without fear of violence, in all its forms.
In
an interview with Will Gooding on 5AA radio Adelaide last week, WWDA Executive
Director Carolyn Frohmader highlighted the need for a universal response to
violence against women that is applicable to ALL women’s experiences, but which
also incorporates direct and targeted measures that address the specific needs
and experiences of diverse populations of women. She said:
Women with
disability, Aboriginal women, and women from non-English speaking backgrounds are
cohorts of women where violence is particularly epidemic, but who are not well
served by existing service responses.
There
are a large number of women with disability who live, for example, in
institutional settings, such as group homes, respite care facilities, nursing
homes, hospitals, prisons – these environments are their ‘domestic’ setting.
Regrettably, in Australia our domestic violence legislation does not cover
women with disability in these institutional settings, because the violence
that occurs within those environments is not considered ‘domestic’ violence.
Whilst
we are heartened by the measures announced today, one thing that we will
continue to advocate for is dedicated and targeted resources for women with
disability, Aboriginal women and women from non-English speaking backgrounds.
We
agree that training of front line workers is very important, however, we argue
that, in the case of women with disability, there must also be resources
directed to empowering and building the capacity of women with disability
themselves – so that they are able to understand and recognise what constitutes
violence; learn about realising their human rights; and seek a pathway to
safety from the many forms of violence they experience – including domestic
violence.
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