Quotes attributable to Djirra CEO Antoinette Braybrook AM:

“We welcome the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) research on homicide rates against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, which confirms the devastating reality we have long been aware of – the rates of violence that our women experience, including homicide, is far worse than for other women. The AIC report that an average of 14 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are murdered each year, and about 7 times more likely to experience homicide than other women. While these numbers are shockingly high, we know the true numbers are likely to be much higher, especially considering that over 90% of family and sexual violence against our women goes unreported.

The AIC also relies on police homicide data, which doesn’t tell the full story. In Victoria for example, Crime Statistics Agency data based on Victoria Police data, is that Aboriginal men commit about 60% of the violence against our women. This is not Djirra’s experience, and this is why there must be an investment into resourcing our specialist Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to collect, analyse and evaluate our own data. In 2023, at least 2 in 3 Aboriginal women accessing Djirra’s legal services and 72% of Aboriginal women accessing Djirra’s individual support services, had a non-Aboriginal partner. Violence against Aboriginal women is a gendered issue, not an Aboriginal issue, and should not be labelled as family violence in Aboriginal communities.

The lack of investment from Government means that Djirra’s data is absent from the public discourse and not counted in influencing Government policies and responses. Aboriginal women’s stories are missing. Without reliable and comprehensive data, we cannot meaningfully capture or tell the real stories and share the experiences of Aboriginal women. Governments must stop keeping Aboriginal women invisible to policy and lawmakers. 

Investing in First Nations data sovereignty is key to keeping Aboriginal women visible and it is a non negotiable when it comes to our self-determination. The current inadequate data collection and reporting system are confined to “counting” and focus on deficits. As a specialist Aboriginal Community Controlled family violence provider, we are ‘forced’ to report to funders this deficit to meet obligations under our agreements.  But this does not speak to the strengths of Aboriginal women. This approach limits our ability to articulate the self-determined solutions that are proven as effective healing, prevention and early intervention. The deficit approach also limits Djirra’s ability to demonstrate how we put Aboriginal women’s self-determination into their own hands by providing tools to navigate their own way through their journey.

Djirra has consistently raised issues about how violence against Aboriginal women is reported and the lack of data. For example, Target 13 of Closing the Gap calls for the rate of all forms of family violence and abuse against Aboriginal women and children to be reduced by at least 50 per cent by 2031. The latest update read “no new data”. It has not been updated since 2018/19. This is utterly unacceptable and is not tolerated when it comes to relying on data on violence against other women in our country. It is a fact that reports of family violence against First Nations women, as well as missing and murdered First Nations women, are not taken seriously by individual police officers or investigative bodies. The recent Senate Inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children reinforces this. For example, in Djirra’s experience of supporting women to access intervention orders, it is a common occurrence for Police to refuse to take statements, telling our women that “it’s been too long – they should have reported it sooner”, or that the violence “isn’t that bad so why bother pursuing it”.

We see first hand in our work how Aboriginal women are too often misidentified as perpetrators of violence when seeking support for their safety. In a recent review of our casework, at least 24% of the women Djirra  supported in 2023 had been misidentified as perpetrators of violence by Police. Misidentification leads to criminalisation, incarceration, and is a major contributor to the removal of our children. It also has far reaching ramifications for Aboriginal women in need of other critical services such as housing and employment. 

So yes, Djirra welcomes the AIC publishing research into homicides affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. But we reiterate that this research is only a small part of a much bigger picture and resourcing specialist Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations such as Djirra is essential to show a more accurate picture of Aboriginal women’s experiences.   

To work towards a more accurate and complete picture it is essential that Governments not only invest in the systems for collecting, recording and reporting data about family violence and homicide consistent with First Nations data sovereignty but they must ensure the proper investigation of all apparent suicides and deaths by drug and alcohol misuse involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women where there is a history of family violence. It is equally essential that Governments invest in Djirra’s self-determined solutions that are proven in keeping our women and their children safe, strong and resilient.

You cannot manage what you don’t measure. Aboriginal women’s lives matter. Governments must act NOW”.