Australia – Violence Against Aboriginal Women & Girls
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: May 15, 2006
Australia: Aboriginal women ‘set on fire’
17 May 2006
MELBOURNE: The nightmare of substance abuse among Aboriginal men has
taken on another deadly dimension, with an alarming increase in the number of
indigenous women being set on fire by angry, violent partners.
The revelation came as the Federal Government last night threatened to
intervene in the affairs of the Northern Territory to tackle the epidemic of
sexual abuse and assaults against women and children in Aboriginal communities.
Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said it was well known
that some high-ranking indigenous community leaders were involved in pedophile
rings and were using children “at their own whim”.
He
signalled Canberra could intervene if the NT did not take stronger action to
curb the spread of sexual abuse and violence in remote communities.
“I
would first and foremost want to work with the elected Government of the
Territory,” he told the ABC’s Lateline. “If that fails… then we shouldn’t
close our minds to any alternative that is possible.”
Mr
Brough made the threat as The Age learned of new claims of a growing trend among
Aboriginal men to set fire to women who refuse to have sex with them.
Police are investigating a recent incident in which a young man allegedly
doused petrol on his 18-year-old girlfriend’s stomach and genitals and set her
clothes on fire after she refused to have sex. She sustained burns to 30 per
cent of her body.
In
another case, a man tossed petrol over his wife when she refused him $10 to buy
alcohol. She suffered third-degree burns to 40 per cent of her body.
Jane Lloyd, who advises NT Chief Minister Clare Martin on Aboriginal
violence, told The Age the attacks were part of an alarming new trend among
indigenous men who used ignited fuel to disfigure women who defied them.
“Such assaults are not uncommon or unusual. Women are burnt, in the
abdomen, genital and upper thigh areas also with fire sticks,” she said. “They
are deliberate assaults intended to disfigure and sexually mutilate women.”
Ms
Lloyd’s claims have been backed by the co-ordinator of the Alice Springs women’s
shelter, Maxine Schulte, who said the shelter was offering asylum to a growing
number of indigenous women with burns inflicted by men.
“The tragedy is that 80 per cent of assaults go unreported because the
women often return to their partners because they have nowhere else to go. They
cannot find or afford alternative housing,” she said.
Over six months recently, 250 women and children went to the shelter to
escape domestic violence.
Ms
Lloyd, chairwoman of the Chief Minister’s Family and Aboriginal Violence
Council, praised Alice Springs Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers for speaking out
this week about the epidemic of sexual abuse and violence that has taken hold in
indigenous communities in central Australia.
Dr
Rogers, who has handled hundreds of cases of sexual assault and violent death in
12 years as a prosecutor, on Monday released shocking details from a dossier she
has kept on cases of rape, murder and sexual assault on women, children and
babies.
Alice Springs is the murder capital of Australia, with a rate of violent
death 10 times the national average.
Dr
Rogers said numerous crimes went unpunished because women were threatened with
“payback” and community-approved punishment.
She backed her claims with details of many violent incidents, including
the case of a six-year-old girl who drowned while being raped and a baby who
required surgery after being kidnapped by a young man and penetrated.
Dr
Rogers said the crimes often occurred in communities where there were few or no
police officers – a point taken up by Mr Brough when he renewed a plea to the NT
yesterday to increase police numbers and restrict alcohol sales in remote
communities.
Inquiries by The Age yesterday backed up Dr Rogers’ claims. Apart from an
apparent increase in the number of women and girls suffering from burns – a
trend also confirmed by local hospital statistics – social workers said another
common form of assault involved men smashing the legs of wives or girlfriends to
stop them escaping from communities.
Ms
Lloyd, who also manages the domestic violence service of the NPY Women’s
Council, said it was pointless to suggest that indigenous leaders take greater
responsibility for the situation because many men in senior community positions
had been charged or convicted of violence against women. “I can name six
community leaders who fit that category,” she said.
In
a recent case, she said a senior community figure had attacked his estranged
wife with a wheel brace and scissors, leaving her with serious head and back
injuries. After receiving a suspended 18-month jail sentence, he attacked her
again.
Mr
Brough said some of the leaders were involved in organised pedophilia.
“Everybody in those communities knows who runs the pedophile rings. They know
who brings in the petrol, they know who sells the ganja,” he told Lateline.
“They need to be taken out of the community, not by tribal law but by the
judicial system that operates throughout Australia,” he said.
Mr
Brough said that while it was best to try to work with state and territory
governments to resolve problems in indigenous communities, the future of the
“next generation” was at stake.
“They’ve got no chance if their parents are rolling drunk, up to their
ears in ganja and aren’t in any way looking after the welfare of their
children,” he said.
“And I won’t stand by and just simply say that law and order is just the
responsibility of the states and territories. If we have the power and they
refuse to move, then we should consider those issues.”
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