Domestic violence advocates have stressed the importance of a respectful and supportive public conversation after Queensland MP Nick Dametto claimed incidents should be handled inside the family in the first instance.
Dametto appeared on the Jack Ryder Talks podcast last month where he claimed laws were softening a generation and made a point for self-governance, adding: ”If someone were bashing your sister, you and the cousins sorted it out, nothing to see here.
“The police are spending 85 per cent of their time on the beat sorting out domestic violence issues because people can’t sort out stuff for themselves,” he said.
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When 9news.com.au approached the Katter’s Australian Party deputy leader for comment, he said he believed “family and domestic violence issues could be dealt with within the family unit” before the matter is reported to authorities.
Domestic violence advocates have drawn concern over the remarks, which they say may discourage victim-survivors from feeling supported in speaking out.
Full Stop Australia chief executive Karen Bevan said only 20 per cent of incidents were reported to police, while the vast majority were not reaching out for help.
She said commentary that undermines victim-survivors’ safety to seek support was “unhelpful and dangerous”.
“We’ve had centuries of experience of matters being shoved into the private sphere and what’s clear is that that doesn’t work, what happens is that people are harmed,” she told 9news.com.au.
“This isn’t something that the police are doing that’s less important than their other job, our community wants safety.
“It’s all our jobs.”
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A spokesperson from the government-funded hotline 1800RESPECT highlighted the importance of responding to matters of domestic violence sensitively.
“It takes a lot of courage to disclose an experience of domestic, family or sexual violence,” the spokesperson told 9news.com.au.
“Responding sensitively can make a real difference to someone’s wellbeing and how they approach their situation.”
Thirty-four women were killed by an intimate partner in 2022/23, which was a 28 per cent increase from the previous year, according to the latest figures by the Australian Institute of Criminology’s National Homicide Monitoring Program.
So far this year, 58 women have been killed, Australian Femicide Watch estimates.
While more victim-survivors are starting to come forward, Bevan said coercive control, risks to safety and children were some of the reasons why many weren’t.
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“You often don’t know the full story of what’s going on behind closed doors,” she said.
“There are very real risks to people’s lives and safety if we don’t have a community that takes domestic violence seriously.”
Bevan said the community could support victim-survivors by having respectful conversations, taking the matter seriously, ensuring resources and support were available and funded, and having authorities ready to respond.
“It’s a national emergency and it’s also a national priority,” she said.
“It’s something that we can actually change … make this change happen in this generation.”
Full Dametto statement
My personal views have been formed through my upbringing and my cultural background, and I believe that family and domestic violence issues could be dealt with within the family unit, and if they can’t be dealt with in that way, then they should be reported to the authorities.
Statistically, domestic violence is on the rise, therefore I think the conversation should be opened up for everyone to have a robust discussion on different ways to deal with it moving forward. If the objective is to find a solution for family and domestic violence, we should be able to open this up for discussion, share opinions and share possible solutions without being publicly ridiculed.
Support is available from Full Stop Australia at 1800 385 578.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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