Women and men can be perpetrators and/or victims of sexual assault and domestic and family violence, but statistics and research overwhelmingly show that most incidents are perpetrated by men against women and children. For this reason, the Council uses the terminology of ‘victim/survivor’ or ‘women’/’women and children’; and ‘perpetrator’ or ‘man/male’ throughout the Plan of Action. The Plan reflects a sociological interpretation of the phenomenon of violence against women, rather than a legal interpretation. For this reason, the term ‘perpetrator’ or ‘alleged perpetrator’ has been used more than ‘defendant’ or ‘accused’. However, it is important that the reader substitutes these terms with terms they are personally or organisationally comfortable with. The remainder of this section explains the understanding of key concepts that provide the foundation for the Plan of Action.
- Accountability
- ‘Accountability’ refers to consequences of actions at the individual, community and system level. For example, at the individual level, this means perpetrators acknowledging their use of violence and responsibility in stopping violence; at the community level, this means speaking out against violence and challenging perpetrators and violence-supportive attitudes; and at the systemic level, this means adopting consistent and coordinated standards of policy and practice that prioritise women’s and children’s safety in the long term.
- ‘As Is’ jurisdictional analysis
- The ‘As Is’ is a high-level jurisdictional analysis of initiatives under way across Australia to respond to sexual assault and domestic and family violence conducted by the Council in 2008. It provides an overview of trends in each jurisdiction including key strategic priorities, policy directions, governance mechanisms, legal responses, service infrastructure, areas for improvement and gaps in delivery. The ‘As Is’ jurisdictional analysis is found in Part B of the Background Paper to Time for Action: The National Council’s Plan for Australia to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, 2009-2021.
- Bisexual
- A person sexually attracted to both men and women, for whom this attraction is part of their self-identity.
- CALRD - Culturally, linguistically and religiously diverse.
- CALRD women and children face considerable barriers in seeking assistance, including language barriers, cultural and family pressures to keep the family together, lack of understanding of the legal system, lack of residency status, the fear of being deported, and religious beliefs295.
- Case management
- ‘Case management’ is a service delivery approach that involves a collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation and advocacy for options and services to meet an individual’s health needs through communication and available resources to promote quality cost-effective outcomes. Within the Australian context, case management can be placed within a social model of health. This framework allows for the client and case manager to work on the various aspects of the client’s life that influence the client’s health and other needs296.
- Children/child
- Any individual aged less than 18 years. This definition is consistent with the definitions used in all states except Queensland, where the age of a child is considered to be less than 17 years. The definition of a child as a person less than 18 years is also consistent with the definition included in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- COAG
- ‘COAG’ stands for the Council of Australian Governments and refers to the peak intergovernmental forum in Australia comprising the Prime Minister, State Premiers, Territory Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association. The role of COAG is to initiate, develop and monitor the implementation of policy reforms that are of national significance and which require cooperative action by Australian governments297.
- Community
- ‘Community’ refers to the Australian collective and includes governments, businesses, non-government organisations, voluntary or civil society groups, and individuals. Australia is the fourth most diverse nation in the world. Its community comprises many faiths, many languages and many cultures. As at 2008, its residents came from 230 countries, spoke more than 190 languages and followed more than 100 religious faiths. Apart from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders – the First Australians – all Australians can trace their roots to another country. These diverse groups have worked together to build a multicultural community based on the principles of democracy, tolerance and equality. All Australians, whether they were born here or migrated here, have equal rights and responsibilities – the right to freedom of speech, religious practice, freedom of cultural expression, and the responsibility to respect the rights of others and follow Australia’s laws and democratic principles298.
- Community partnerships
- Formal connections or linkages between individuals, communities, business and/or government formed in order to contribute to a common objective. An example is primary or secondary schools in regional areas collaborating with the local community to act as a social and adult learning hub, as well as a place of learning for children.
- Court staff
- Includes registrars, administrative support staff, legal clerks and judges’ associates. Does not include judges or magistrates.
- Cross-sectoral
- ‘Cross-sectoral’ refers to linkages across sectors such as justice, health and community services.
- Customary law
- ‘Customary law’ refers to the systems of traditional customs, rules and laws governing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It structures Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies, cultures and religions; and connects individuals with each other and with their ancestral spirits299.
- Disability
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- ‘Disability’ is an evolving concept. It results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. ‘Persons with disabilities’ include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which (in interaction with various barriers) may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others300.
- Domestic violence
- The term ‘domestic violence’ refers predominantly to abuse of a person, usually a woman, by their intimate partner. While there is no single definition, the central element of ‘domestic violence’301 is an ongoing pattern of behaviour aimed at controlling one’s partner through fear, for example by using behaviour which is violent and threatening. It occurs between people who have, or have had, an intimate relationship. In most cases, the violent behaviour is part of a range of tactics to exercise power and control over women and children, and can be both criminal and non-criminal302. The laws in each State and Territory differ in this respect – some now define emotional abuse as a crime, while others do not. The Council’s Plan of Action states clearly that although only some aspects of domestic violence are criminal offences, any behaviour that causes the victim to live in fear is intolerable.
- The behaviours that are associated with domestic violence include303:
- Emotional abuse – blaming the victim for all problems in the relationship, constantly comparing the victim with others to undermine self-esteem and self-worth, sporadic sulking, withdrawing all interest and engagement (for example weeks of silence), emotional blackmail.
- Verbal abuse – swearing and continual humiliation, either in private or in public, with attacks following clear themes that focus on intelligence, sexuality, body image and capacity as a parent and spouse.
- Social abuse – systematic isolation from family and friends through techniques such as ongoing rudeness to family and friends to alienate them; instigating and controlling the move to a location where the victim has no established social circle or employment opportunities; and forbidding or physically preventing the victim from going out and meeting people.
- Economic abuse – complete control of all money, including: forbidding access to bank accounts; providing only an inadequate ‘allowance’; not allowing the victim to seek or hold employment; and using all wages earned by the victim for household expenses.
- Psychological abuse – includes: driving dangerously; destruction of property; abuse of pets in front of family members; making threats regarding custody of any children; asserting that the police and justice system will not assist, support or believe the victim; and denying an individual’s reality.
- Spiritual abuse – denial and/or misuse of religious beliefs or practices to force victims into subordinate roles; or misuse of religious or spiritual traditions to justify physical violence or other forms of abuse.
- Physical abuse – includes: direct assault on the body (strangulation or choking, shaking, eye injuries, slapping, pushing, spitting, punching, or kicking); use of weapons including objects; assault of children; locking the victim out of the house; and sleep and food deprivation.
- Sexual abuse – any form of pressured/unwanted sex or sexual degradation by an intimate partner or ex-partner, such as sexual activity without consent; causing pain during sex; assaulting genitals; coercive sex without protection against pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease; making the victim perform sexual acts unwillingly (including talking explicit photos without their consent); criticising, or using sexually degrading insults.
- Durability
- ‘Durability’ refers to the ability of a policy, program or service to endure and be sustainable over a long period despite external pressures.
- Early intervention
- ‘Early intervention’ (sometimes referred to as ‘secondary prevention’) is targeted at individuals and groups who exhibit early signs of perpetrating violent behaviour or of being subject to violence. Early intervention strategies can be aimed at changing behaviour or increasing the skills of individuals and groups. They also can be targeted at environments that exhibit strong signs of potential violence304.
- Family
- The definition of ‘family’ relates to the specific cultural norms of the community to which the victim belongs. For example, ‘family’ may mean nuclear or extended family in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
- Family violence
- ‘Family violence’ refers to violence against women perpetrated by a family member which may include, but is not limited to, their intimate partner. The range of behaviours that constitute family violence are the same as those defined under ‘domestic violence’ above.
- The term ‘family violence’ is preferred over the term ‘domestic violence’ in some Australian jurisdictions such as Victoria and the ACT. The term ‘family violence’ also tends to be preferred by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to capture how violence may be perpetrated by a range of people in intimate, family and other relationships of mutual obligation; and how the effects reverberate throughout the entire family305.
- Gender equality
- The goal of equality between women and men, particularly in the fulfilment of human rights. The equal valuing of men and women306.
- Gender diversity
- ‘Gender diversity’ is a celebration and recognition of variations in gender (or the cultural expression of sex identity) within Australian society including men, women, transgender, transsexual and intersex307.
- Gender analysis
- ‘Gender analysis’ is an examination of the relationships and role differences between women and men. Gender analysis identifies, analyses and informs action to address inequalities that arise from the different roles of women and men, or the unequal power relationships between them, and the consequences of these inequalities on their lives308.
- Government
- Unless otherwise specified, ‘government’ includes the Commonwealth, States and Territories and local governments.
- Gold standard
- ‘Gold standard’ is an aspirational standard of excellence that sets the benchmark for service delivery.
- Healing
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- Indigenous concepts of ‘healing’ are based on addressing the relationship between the physical, emotional and spiritual in a holistic manner. An essential element of Indigenous healing involves recognising the interconnections between violence, social and economic disadvantage, racism and the effects of the dispossession from their land and culture on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, communities and families. Healing in the context of criminal justice attempts to help the individual deal with the reasons why they have offended in the first place. This element of healing is strongly linked to the notion of ‘restorative justice’309.
- Humbugging
- ‘Humbugging’ is a term that is often used in rural and remote Aboriginal communities. It can involve trickery and deceit (often targeted at the elderly and infirm) to acquire money or other material resources, intimidating behaviour or asking for sexual favours.
- Indigenous
- ‘Indigenous’ refers to Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- Intersectional
- ‘Intersectional’ refers to the relationship between gender, race and other aspects of identity that are sources of systematic discrimination310.
- Intersex
- ‘Intersex’ conditions are genetic conditions that result in a child being born with sex chromosomes and/or sexual reproductive anatomy that are not exclusively male or female311.
- Joined-up services
- ‘Joined-up services’ refer to services that aim to deliver more efficient and customer-centric outcomes by working collaboratively with other agencies, jurisdictions and with the non-government sector.
- Jurisdictional responses
- ‘Jurisdictional responses’ refer to services, programs and initiatives of the Commonwealth, States and Territories provided to victims/survivors and perpetrators after the violence has occurred – for example, police services, counselling and health care.
- Lesbian relationships
- ‘Lesbian relationships’ are intimate partner relationships between women.
- New and emerging communities
- ‘New and emerging communities’ are culturally, linguistically and religiously diverse (CALRD) immigrant communities that are relatively small and newly arrived in Australia, for which ethno-specific organisations, information networks, advocacy or services may not have been developed.
- Women in new and emerging communities can face additional challenges to those from CALRD communities outlined above. Typically they have left their extended family and social networks to move to Australia where they have few (if any) social supports. They may also be unaware of community attitudes and law towards domestic and family violence and sexual assault in Australia, and may be restricted from exploring their new country and finding information. In addition, women experiencing violence may be concerned about contacting police as a result of poor experiences with police in their country of origin, or they may be concerned about deportation or losing their children if they report violence to authorities312. Without ethno-specific organisations, information networks, advocacy or services, women in new and emerging communities can be more isolated that women in CALRD communities.
- Perpetrator
- A ‘perpetrator’ is the individual who inflicts violence against a woman or child.
- Prevention strategies
- ‘Prevention strategies’ seek to prevent violence before it happens. Interventions can be targeted at the population as a whole or at particular groups that are at higher risk of using or experiencing violence. Prevention strategies often focus on behavioural change or skill and knowledge development. It describes a process of creating conditions and or personal attributes that promote the wellbeing of people. This may involve reducing or eliminating factors that increase the likelihood of violence, or strengthening those that reduce the likelihood of violence313.
- Protective behaviours
- ‘Protective behaviours’ refers to a proactive and empowering set of preventative and adaptable living skills that enable people to develop workable strategies to better help them preserve their physical and emotional safety in unsafe, or potentially unsafe situations.
- Respectful relationships
- ‘Respectful relationships’ are relationships between all people in which men, women and children are equally valued, and in which violence plays no part. They are based on mutual respect, equality, trust and support. Respectful relationships acknowledge and embrace diversity. The Plan of Action adopts this broad understanding but is particularly focused on respectful relationships between men and women.
- Restorative justice
- ‘Restorative justice’ refers to a range of informal justice practices which require offenders to take responsibility for their actions and to meet the needs of affected victims and communities. These include community conferencing and mediation (the most commonly used restorative justice practices in Australia). It emphasises dialogue between the offender and victim and the repair of harm resulting from the crime, including harm to relationships314. The person who has been harmed is the focus of the resolution, sometimes receiving an apology or reparation directly from the offender. The primary relationship is between the victim and the offender, rather than the judge and offender as in traditional forms of justice.
- Risk assessment tools
- ‘Risk assessment tools’ are designed to help assess the level of risk. ‘Risk assessment’ involves risk identification, risk analysis and risk evaluation; ‘risk identification’ determines what, where, when, why and how something could happen; ‘risk analysis’ attempts to understand the nature of a risk, and determine the resultant level of that risk; and ‘risk evaluation’ compares the level of risk against criteria that determine the significance of the risk315.
- Safe at home
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- ‘Safe at home’ refers to a ‘jurisdictional response’ to domestic and family violence which seeks to have the perpetrator removed from the home in circumstances where it is safe, appropriate and desirable for the woman and her children. This preserves the autonomy and social support networks of victims; reduces the financial, social and health impacts; and ensures that perpetrators experience consequences for their violent actions316.
- Safe at Home is also the name of the current Tasmanian Government’s Domestic Violence Strategy.
- Services
- ‘Services’ refer to social and health-related government services which provide a range of support to the community, including justice, community, health, family, and education services.
- Sexual assault
- While ‘sexual assault’ is explicit in the definition of violence against women and their children in the Plan of Action, there is no single nationally or internationally agreed definition of what constitutes ‘sexual assault’ and definitions used in Australia vary between jurisdictions, agencies and surveys. Sexual assault should be considered in both ‘experience’ and ‘offence’ based terms. The experience-based term defines sexual assault as unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature directed towards a person:
- which makes that person feel uncomfortable, distressed, frightened or threatened, or which results in harm or injury to that person;
- to which that person has not freely agreed or given consent, or to which that person is not capable of giving consent;
- in which another person uses physical, emotional, psychological or verbal force or (other) coercive behaviour against that person.
- Sexual assault may be located on a continuum of behaviours from sexual harassment to life-threatening rape.
- The offence-based term defines sexual assault as physical assault of a sexual nature directed towards another person without their consent. The assault may range from unwanted touching to sexual penetration without consent, including attempts. Sexual penetration involves the introduction, to any extent, of a person’s penis into the vagina, anus or mouth of another person; or the introduction, to any extent, of another part of a person’s body or an object into the vagina or anus of another person.
- Consent requires ‘free agreement’ and a person cannot be said to freely agree where the person is fearful for themselves or for someone else; has been threatened; is mistaken about the identity of the person or the nature of the sexual act; wrongly believes that the act is for medical purposes; is incapable of consenting because of the influence of alcohol or other drug(s); or is legally deemed incapable of giving consent because of youth, or temporary or permanent incapacity; or where there is a familial relationship or other relationship of trust317.
- Social marketing
- ‘Social marketing’ is the application of commercial marketing techniques and strategies to a campaign to seek to influence social behaviours to make social change.
- Sustainability
- ‘Sustainability’ refers to the ability of a policy, program or outcome to be maintained over time.
- Transgender person
- A ‘transgender person’ is a person who identifies as a member of the opposite sex by living, or seeking to live, as a member of the opposite sex; or being of indeterminate sex, identifies as a member of a particular sex by living as a member of that sex; or has undergone sexual reassignment surgery and the record of whose sex has been altered under relevant legislation.318
- Transsexual/transsexual person
- A ‘transexual/transsexual person’ is a person of one sex who assumes the bodily and other characteristics of the other sex by medical or other means; identifies himself or herself as a member of the other sex; lives or seeks to live as a member of the other sex; and whose record of registration of birth has been altered under relevant legislation319.
- Victim support
- ‘Victim support’ refers to a wide variety of assistance provided to victims/survivors of domestic and family violence or sexual assault. This can include the provision of information, counselling, medical, legal and financial assistance.
- Victim/survivor
- ‘Victim/survivor’ is the person upon whom the violence is inflicted. Survivor is often used as a synonym for victim.
- Violence against women
- There is no one universally accepted definition of ‘violence against women’. However, the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women 1993 defines it as ‘any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life’.
- Violence against women includes, but is not limited to:
- physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, including battery, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation (and other traditional practices harmful to women), non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation;
- physical, sexual and psychological violence within the general community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution;
- physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the state, wherever it occurs.
- While women experience all of the forms of violence described above, sexual assault and domestic and family violence are the main focus of the Plan of Action.
- Witness
- A ‘witness’ is an individual who can give a firsthand account of an event that has been seen, heard, or experienced. An individual does not need to see an event to be classed as a witness.
- Wrap-around services
- ‘Wrap-around services’ are services that constitute an area of speciality that does not warrant a separate service in a particular context, but instead ‘wraps around’ and sensitises mainstream services to the issues relating to the area of speciality. An example is victim-support services in the courts that help victims/survivors but also strive to sensitise the legal system to the nature of violence against women and the needs of victims/survivors. ‘Wrap-around services’ also involve multiple service providers collaborating around and with a client, to plan and respond to their individual needs and aspirations.
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