Family violence

What is family violence?

Family violence is any threatening, coercive, dominating or abusive behaviour that occurs between people in a family, domestic or intimate relationship, or former intimate relationship, that causes the person experiencing the behaviour to feel fear. In Australia, it is against the law for any member of your family, including your partner, children, siblings or in-laws, to hurt or control you.

Family violence includes (but is not limited to):

• Any type of physical violence (hitting, punching, biting, choking)
• Being forced to do sexual acts, even if you are married or in a relationship
• Making threats or any kind of verbal abuse
• Denying access to money
• Controlling contact with people outside the family
• Stalking (including online)
• Intentionally hurting a pet
• Children witnessing this abuse.

What is gender-based violence?

Gender-based violence includes all forms of violence against people based on their gender, or violence that affects people of a particular gender disproportionately. It is most frequently used to describe men’s violence against women.

What is violence against women?

Violence against women is any act of violence that causes or could cause physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of harm or coercion, in public or in private life.

Women from all cultures and all parts of society can experience violence. Violence against women is largely perpetrated by men. It can include:

• intimate partner violence, including dating violence
• sexual violence (perpetrated by someone they know or by a stranger)
• sexual harassment (in workplaces, public spaces or online)
• dowry-related abuse, sexual and reproductive coercion, sex trafficking and other slavery-like practices, female genital mutilation/cutting, forced marriage
• coercive control, including financial abuse, technological abuse, control around immigration status
• violence that occurs in institutions, for example, violence in prisons, in aged care facilities, disability or residential care settings.

What causes violence against women?

There is no single cause of family violence and violence against women. We do know that violence against women is a societal problem, rather than a few isolated incidents or a private issue. Current evidence, outlined in Change the Story: a shared framework for the primary prevention of violence against women and their children in Australia, tells us that levels of violence against women are higher where there is greater inequality between men and women. Gender inequality is where women and men do not have equal social status, power, resources or opportunities, and their voices, ideas and work are not valued equally by society.

Gender inequality provides the necessary conditions for violence against women to occur. It exists at many levels in our society – from how we view and value men and women, to economic factors like the gender pay gap between men and women, to family and relationship roles and expectations. There is a strong and consistent association between gender inequality and violence against women.

Preventing violence against women

The good news is that violence against women is not inevitable, it is preventable. To stop this violence from happening in the first place, we need to tackle gender inequality through the following actions:

• Not condone violence against women. We must not accept that violence against women is normal or inevitable and we will challenge any attitudes or practices that minimise or excuse it, including in the media.
• Promote women’s independence and decision-making. We ensure that women have access to the same resources, power and opportunities as men.
• Challenge outdated gender stereotypes and roles. We support children, young people and adults to develop their own personal identities free from restrictive rules and stereotypes. And we promote gender-equitable roles in parenting, paid and unpaid work and other areas.
• Support men and boys to develop healthy, supportive and positive relationships. We ensure that men and boys recognise and challenge harmful aspects of masculinity, dominance and privilege in their peer groups and in organisations.
• Strengthen positive, equal and respectful relationships. We challenge disrespectful behaviour towards women, and assumptions that men should have power and control in relationships. And we work with children and young people to promote respect and gender equality.
• Promote and advance gender equality in public and private life. We support women’s social, economic, cultural and political empowerment, as well as equality in relationships.

Council’s role in preventing family violence

Family violence is a serious and complex issue that has a profound impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and the broader community. In recognition of this, National, State and local governments across Victoria have established family violence as a key priority for action. Council has a legislated obligation to prevent family violence and respond to the needs of victim survivors and includes this in our Council Plan. Council will:

• take action to advance gender equality across the organisation and in the community, including through our Gender Equality Action Plan 2022 to 2025
• ensure that all staff employed in health and human service delivery have undertaken professional development in risk assessment for family violence
• ensure that the development of Council policies, programs and services consider the specific impacts of gender inequality on health, wellbeing and safety.
• seek to provide safe and gender-equitable facilities and public environments
• play a leadership role in collaborating and co-ordinating initiatives tailored to the local community that focus on public education and community development
• participate in the Southern Metropolitan Region’s Promoting Respect and Equity Together (PRET) Strategy group led by Women’s Health in the South-East (WHISE), including working with community health and NGO partners
• develop an organisational Family Violence policy to support staff experiencing family violence.

More information

City of Port Phillip health and wellbeing information is available on the Health and wellbeing page.

In Health Profiles - Family Violence, you can find more information about our role in preventing and responding to family violence. There is also data on the rates of family violence in Port Phillip.

Help and Support

City of Port Phillip has a Family Support Team where families can receive support and advice on topics such as family violence. You can get in touch with our team to make a self-referral. Our team will contact you within 5 working days. Find out more about our Family Support's team services.

If you are worried about someone, or need to seek help yourself, contact one of the support services below.

In an emergency or if you are or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 000 for Police and/or Ambulance assistance.

The following crisis and counselling services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week:

• 1800RESPECT – A 24-hour national sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling service for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault. Call 1800 737 732 or visit Home | 1800RESPECT
• Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre – A 24/7 family violence response centre, providing specialist support services for anyone in Victoria who is experiencing or afraid of family violence. Call 1800 015 188 or visit Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre - 24/7 support for Victorians
• Kids Helpline - Private and confidential phone and online counselling service for people aged 5 to 25. Call 1800 55 1800 or visit kidshelpline.com.au
• MensLine Australia - Help, support, referrals & counselling services for men via telephone, online and video. Call 1300 78 99 78 or visit mensline.org.au.

Help and support for all people affected by family violence may also be found through the following specialist services:

• Orange Door – A free service for adults, children and young people who are experiencing or have experienced family violence and need support. There are Orange Door hubs all around Victoria, and no referral is required. Visit Family violence support and extra help for children and families (orangedoor.vic.gov.au) and for contact details to your closest Orange Door service visit Locations | The Orange Door
• InTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence – Offers free and confidential support services to migrant and refugee women living in Victoria who are experiencing or have experienced family violence. Call 1800 755 988 or visit Home - inTouch
• Elizabeth Morgan House Aboriginal Women’s Service – An Aboriginal-led peak body for Aboriginal women and children in Victoria providing family violence services and advocacy. Call 03 9482 5744 or visit Home | EMHAWS.ORG.AU
• Djirra – Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service Victoria – Provides legal advice, information, referral and support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at immediate risk of, experiencing or recovering from family violence or sexual assault (women and men). Call 1800 105 303 or visit Djirra – Sharing stories finding solutions
• Rainbow Door – A free specialist helpline providing information, support and referral to all LGBTIQ+ Victorians, their friends and family. This includes support for people of all ages and identities who are experiencing relationship issues, family and intimate partner violence (including elder abuse) and sexual assault. Call 1800 729 367 or visit Rainbow Door
• Women’s Information Referral Exchange (WIRE) - a free support, referral and information service for women, non-binary and gender diverse people experiencing issues including family violence, financial abuse and housing. Call 1300 134 130 or visit Support, Referrals & Information for Victorian Women | WIRE
• Sexual Assault Crisis Line - Crisis counselling service for people who have experienced past and recent sexual assault. Call 1800 806 292 Sexual Assault Crisis Line
• South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence (SECASA) – a specialist organisation which offers services such as time limited therapeutic interventions and counselling, 24/7 sexual assault crisis response and assessment and intervention for children and young people with harmful sexual behaviours. Call 03 9594 2289 or visit Home | SECASA.
• Men’s Referral Service – a men’s family violence telephone counselling, information and referral service operating in Australia by No to Violence, which provides a point of contact for men taking responsibility for their violent behaviour. Call 1300 766 491 or visit NTV | What we do