On 16 February 2024, NAAFLS was proud to host the Ochre Ribbon Week Breakfast at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Esplanade Darwin. An Indigenous-led campaign held from 12 – 19 February 2024 and supported by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), Ochre Ribbon Week raises awareness of the impacts of domestic and family violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience disproportionally high levels of violence compared to non-Indigenous women, and violence is often more severe in its impact on families: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are 32 times more likely to be hospitalised from family violence than non-Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 3.4 times more likely to experience sexual assault, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 11 times more likely to die due to assault.
Discrimination, racism and intergenerational trauma are significant drivers of the violence experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. These drivers are exacerbated by factors including alcohol and substance abuse, mental health, inadequate housing and overcrowding, unemployment and poor access to culturally competent services.
Breaking this cycle of violence requires community-driven, trauma‑informed approaches to family violence that prioritise cultural healing, family restoration and the strength of Indigenous families. Solutions must support frontline and prevention services, as well as the structural drivers of violence.
NAAFLS extends its thanks and gratitude to all those who attended and took part in the conversation, with a special mention to the Hon Kate Worden, MLA, and Shane Kerinaiua, Catholic Care NT – Wurrumiyanga, for sharing their impactful personal experiences with domestic and family violence.
NAAFLS Principal Legal Officer Mr James Lowrey addressed the audience, stating, “NAAFLS mandate is to provide legal and non-legal support to remote, aboriginal, Territorians who have suffered domestic and family violence. That includes assistance with Family Law applications, Child Protection applications, Domestic Violence Order applications, and applications for Victims of Crime Compensations.
That also includes non-legal assistance to work with services on issues such as repatriations away from violence; housing and improving the safety of housing; drug and alcohol counselling and support, or residential rehabilitation to name a few. That includes traveling to 45 remote Territory Communities. For context, the NT Local Court circuits to just 16 communities in that same region.
In fulfilling this mandate, our lawyers and case workers enjoy the privilege of hearing our clients’ personal stories. It is a privilege, because often our lawyers and case workers are often the first people to hear those stories; which are deeply personal. It is a privilege, because they are stories not only of incredible hardship, but also of deep resilience, and in many cases, of resilience based in community.
I can think of no better example of this than our next speaker. I met our next speaker last November in Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island in the Tiwi’s.
We had just concluded two weeks of proceedings in the Coroner’s Court, examining the casual factors of domestic violence in remote aboriginal communities.
To me, our next speaker was one of many names on a list of people to visit.
Yet when we met our next speaker at his beautiful home in his Island community, he like most all other victims, was kind, courteous, patient, and respectful. And when he shared his story, he spoke with not only frankness; but determination and resoluteness that a solution to this issue in his community can be found in his community.
Mr Kerinaiua’s story is not a NAAFLS success story. In fact, we’ve had limited to do. Rather, Mr Kerinaiua’s story is a story about Ochre Ribbon. It is a story about finding practical, community-based solutions to this problem.”
