Page 1908 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 23 June 2021
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I want to share with you one very powerful example of how the health justice partnership works to make people safer. Last year, a woman who was seriously injured in a domestic and family violence incident presented at an emergency department here in Canberra. With the support of a health justice partnership lawyer, the woman was able to obtain a family violence order via phone on that day, which enabled her to return home safely to her children while the perpetrator was excluded from the residence.
Over 500 people have been assisted through the ACT’s health justice partnership. Considering that many of them had never previously sought help, this shows the value of this service for the community in providing early intervention and, hopefully, preventing a dangerous point of crisis.
Financial abuse is a feature of domestic and family violence that can be hard to recognise, yet it can have a significant and grave impact. Financial abuse restricts the options that a victim has to find safety, be financially stable and be able to support themselves and their family. Financial abuse can trap a victim in an unsafe situation that they simply cannot escape.
For the service sector, being able to recognise the signs and ask the right questions is key to uncovering abuse and providing the right support. There are services and financial supports available for those affected by financial abuse, but the missing link has been the understanding of financial abuse in the service sector.
In partnership with Care Financial, there has been investment in developing specialised training for front-line services. This training provides staff in these services with the ability to recognise financial abuse and then refer a victim to the right service at the right time.
As I have spoken about before in the Assembly, the Domestic Violence Prevention Council delivered an important report to the government about the needs of children and young people exposed to domestic and family violence. This report shone a light on the unique needs of young people. They are affected differently from the adults around them. The report showed that we need to change the way we design and deliver responses to meeting the needs of young people in the community. It was an important and long overdue call to action. I would like to share with you the progress we have made towards the first of the recommendations from the Domestic Violence Prevention Council—putting the voices of children and young people at the heart of service design and delivery.
Last year, I was pleased to talk about the unique consultation undertaken by the Children and Young People Commissioner and the Family Safety Hub with young people in the community who have experienced domestic and family violence. Seventy young people took part in these conversations. Many of them said that they had never had the chance to talk about their experiences before.
The insights that have come from these consultations have highlighted the complexity of the experiences that young people have when they are living with family violence.
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