Latest news with #NatashaStottDespoja
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Crisis-driven response to family violence 'must end'
A lack of leadership and a crisis-driven, siloed approach to domestic, family and sexual violence has failed victim-survivors, a royal commission has found. Releasing her report on Tuesday, commissioner Natasha Stott Despoja said significant investment was required to address the 136 recommendations of the commission, set up in 2024 after four South Australian women were killed in a week. The report was "evidence-based, effective, practical and forward-facing". "I believe this report provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our state to address the issue of domestic, family and sexual violence in a way that we haven't before," she said. SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said the deaths that sparked the commission had been "a really harsh wake-up call that reminded us all that domestic violence is having an extraordinarily detrimental impact". The government had agreed to seven recommendations and would formally respond to the remainder by the end of 2025. It will establish a 24-hour statewide crisis phone line for victims, a standalone ministerial portfolio for the sector and a lived experience advisory network for adults and children. A five-year statewide strategy will also be developed. Across its hearings and listening sessions, the commission heard from more than 5000 people, including victim-survivors, workers, academics, advocates, police, public servants, service providers and national and state commissioners. South Australia was once a leader in tackling such violence, "and now we are way behind," Ms Stott Despoja said. "We've lost our way," she said. "The commission has found that the domestic, family and sexual violence system in this state is fragmented, it's crisis-driven and it's siloed. "There's no single point of leadership within the government for the domestic and family violence system and … no-one is held responsible for when services fail people or fail to support victim-survivors." Ms Stott Despoja recommended an audit of emergency housing for victim-survivors and setting up "vulnerable witness suites" so victims did not have to face their alleged perpetrators in court. The Law Society of SA and Chief Justice Chris Kourakis both welcomed recommendations for specialised training for police, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, courts staff and judicial officers. "High quality education and training programs, developed collaboratively by experts in the field and judge-educators, enhances judicial decision making without diminishing judicial independence," Mr Kourakis said. The report recommends restricting the sale and delivery of alcohol overnight, imposing a two-hour delay between ordering and delivery. Mr Malinauskas said he was aiming for a quick response to the recommendation, noting alcohol delivery was "relatively unregulated". "I think that's got to change," the premier said. While nobody could reasonably believe the report would make "all their problems go away tomorrow", Mr Malinauskas said the proposed reforms would make a difference and allow SA to assume a position of leadership. The government's response was deeply inadequate and showed its priorities were "warped", Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia said. "The flow-on effects of domestic violence are devastating, people are literally dying in their homes, yet the government has allocated just $3.5 million to respond to the findings," Mr Tarzia said. Some of the stories were "harrowing and heartbreaking", Ms Stott Despoja said. "And some will haunt me and my team forever. "But I've also derived a great deal of inspiration from the hope that's out there, from those people who do actually have a vision of a South Australia that's violence-free." Lifeline 13 11 14 Men's Referral Service 1300 766 491 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
When Alice reported her husband to SA police, they said ‘people fight'. But it was far more than fighting
Alice* says that when she met the man who would become her husband, she didn't see any of the red flags that eventually led to her being 'physically, emotionally, verbally, financially and systematically abused by him'. 'Whilst pregnant he would shove me into walls, pushed me and backed me into corners yelling in my face,' she wrote. When she tried to report him to the police, she was told 'people fight'. He was eventually charged with aggravated assault. Alice's story is one of many that Natasha Stott Despoja says will haunt her. It's one of hundreds submitted to the South Australian royal commission into domestic, sexual and family violence, a commission Stott Despoja describes as being 'born out of unimaginable loss'. After four women were killed in a single week in South Australia, the state government set up the commission in July last year. It heard 'harrowing' stories from hundreds of victim-survivors. Stott Despoja, a former senator and ambassador for women and girls and founding chair of Our Watch, was appointed as commissioner. The royal commission's report, With Courage, was released on Tuesday and runs to almost 700 pages. It includes 136 recommendations, some of which the government has already agreed to, including a dedicated portfolio for domestic violence. Stott Despoja wrote in the foreword that the commission received more than 380 submissions, held 48 public hearing sessions, more than 170 listening sessions, and consulted with hundreds more people. She wrote that the report was a 'call to action' for SA, which has 'lost its way' on domestic violence. The recommendations focus on structural reform to create a 'cohesive and effective system'; increasing the awareness and visibility of violence; supporting victim-survivors to get help; programs for people who use violence; longer-term supports for survivors, and a 'strong foundation for prevention'. Some specific recommendations include a national standard for responsible media reporting, more resources for police, more accommodation, free healthcare for victim-survivors, screening for non-fatal strangulation, and strategies to minimise harm to young people on social media from pornography, the manosphere and incels. Other recommendations included restrictions on overnight alcohol sales, a 24-hour crisis line, and addressing rape myths and misconceptions. The commission found many communities are underserved, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, children, culturally and linguistically diverse people, and men who use violence. An accompanying report, Voices, lays out victim-survivors' tales of violence and struggles with the system. Stott Despoja said the stories were 'confronting'. 'They tell the authentic stories of victim-survivors from all genders, backgrounds, beliefs and postcodes,' she wrote. 'While their stories share heartbreak and sadness, many exhibit resilience and strength.' One said: 'Every time a woman dies at the hands of her partner, a little piece of me dies. This will be my daughter one day as no one will stop him.' There were tales of sexual abuse being livestreamed, choking, coercive control, and stories of not being heard or believed, and of not being able to leave. People reported abuse by their partners, parents and children. The commission heard of the childhood trauma from an abusive home, of lingering injuries and financial suffering. There were also male victim-survivors, although the report noted victim-survivors were predominantly women and the overwhelming majority of perpetrators were men. Premier Peter Malinauskas said the stories made for 'harrowing reading'. 'But this report is also a document filled with hope,' he said. 'It sets out a pathway to improve the way we respond to this scourge, and to prevent it from happening in the first place.' * Not her real name In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380
ABC News
12 hours ago
- Health
- ABC News
Royal commission releasing findings into domestic, family and sexual violence
The findings from South Australia's landmark Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence are being released nine months after the first public hearings were held, and amid expectations of sweeping changes to address abuse. Late last year, commissioner and former senator Natasha Stott Despoja described the prevalence of domestic violence as an "epidemic". At the first public hearing in November 2024, she said she wanted to "present findings next year that will hopefully change and save lives". During the months since, more than 300 people made written submissions to the inquiry, which was called at the end of 2023 following the deaths of six South Australians from alleged family and domestic violence. Ms Stott Despoja's findings were handed down last week to SA governor Frances Adamson, and this morning are being publicly unveiled.
News.com.au
05-06-2025
- General
- News.com.au
Sydney University newspaper uninvites news.com.au Political Editor Samantha Maiden from speaking at event
Thirty years after I enjoyed the honour of editing the student newspaper On Dit at Adelaide University and engaged in all of the traditional undergraduate ratbaggery, perhaps it was only a matter of time before I got cancelled. As it turns out that moment arrived this week, in the form of the politburo running the student newspaper Honi Soit. In March, a lovely person called Imogen kindly invited me to Honi Soit 's student newspaper conference at Sydney University. 'No doubt you are a very busy person, and have lots of fantastic opportunities offered to you. However, I am hoping that you would be willing to speak in an interview for an event at our conference, to talk to a room of young Australian journalists about your work in federal politics and your role as the political editor for she wrote. 'I can say on behalf of the attendees that we would be honoured to hear you speak, and that it would really be a highlight of the conference.' Given my background as a former Adelaide university newspaper editor, where I attended with Penny Wong, Natasha Stott-Despoja, Mark Butler, Adelaide Festival director Jo Dyer and the journalists Annabel Crabb and David Penberthy in their undergraduate heydays, I thought it might be fun, and I could even take my son who is 17, who might enjoy seeing Sydney University. I even dug out some old photographs of myself with my co-editor Vanessa Almeida. As an aside there is a huge missed opportunity here. Honi Soit should have waited to flash mob me at the actual event and scream obscenities at me, which my teenage son may have enjoyed quite a lot. But I digress. Although I had considered doing the conference by zoom, I had proposed to catch the train down to spend time with my son and friends. Naturally, I was doing it for free. Alas, this charming train journey to Sydney will not occur as it turns out I am, unbeknownst to myself, a sleeper radical on the issue of Israel. It all came into sharp focus following a mysterious investigation by the Honi Soit editors. This week, they wrote a solemn email cancelling my attendance at the conference that they had asked me to attend, citing unspecified thought crimes involving Palestine. 'We are reaching out regarding your involvement in the 2025 Student Journalism Conference,'' they wrote. 'We have received community concerns about your political coverage and reporting on the Palestinian genocide. 'As a left-wing newspaper, Honi Soit recognises that Israel is committing an ongoing genocide in Palestine and we do not feel that our values align, or that we can platform your work as a result.' The truly weird aspect of this bizarre cancelling is I don't recall writing anything about Palestine recently at all, let alone anything controversial. I have literally no idea what they are on about, and regardless, even if I had written something or said something controversial that the Honi Soit editors did not agree with, so what? As it turns out, it matters quite a good deal to the editors of Honi Soit who are determined to build themselves a Peter Dutton style echo chamber where they only talk to people who they agree with. 'It is important to us that the speakers at the Student Journalism Conference have views that we can stand by, and in light of the reception to the announcement of your event, we do not feel that we can host you as a speaker at our conference,'' they wrote. 'We apologise for the inconvenience.' At first, I regarded it as some sort of amusing joke. But the more I thought about I reflected on how troubling it is that these sensitive petals at Sydney University, a good proportion of whom come from wealthy families, private schools and the world of mummy and daddy paying for their rent, are in such a froth about people that they think may think differently to them. Another panellist, the ABC broadcaster David Marr, kindly wrote a letter in support of free speech in solidarity. He's deplatforming himself from the conference. 'Imogen, I've just learned that you've deplatformed Sam Maiden because of 'concerns' about her 'political coverage','' he wrote. 'That's not my idea of how a good newspaper – let alone a student paper – should behave. Isn't the point of Honi Soit and a conference of this kind to examine different – and perhaps uncomfortable views – about the big issues of the day? I'm out.' And I didn't have to dig far into the archives of Honi Soit to find writer Robbie Mason, a self-described 'anarchist' with a very hot take on all of this in an article titled: Cancel culture is a dumb, toxic, liberal phenomenon antithetical to leftist organising. 'Cancel culture is an evangelical headhunting mission centred on public humiliation, ostracism and guilt by association,'' he wrote. 'When I think of cancel culture in its current form, I think of micro-transgressions and microaggressions. Rumours. Fight versus flight. Tears on bedroom carpets, downward glances in corridors and Twitter warriors emboldened by the poisonous sting of a keyboard. 'This encampment – this safe space – has transformed into a towering fortress. It is built upon the smeared reputations and social corpses of the most vulnerable in society – young activists, people of colour and non-university educated workers, for instance. 'As an anarchist, I am distrustful of a technocratic elite replicating the behaviour of ruling classes. 'Academic writing leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Forcing readers to continually decode the meaning of research and jargon ensures an intellectual elite remains in control of society and dominates public discourse – albeit an intellectual elite often with their hearts in the right place. This is nonetheless a form of power and hierarchy. 'As an anarchist, I am inclined to distrust hegemonic leftist arguments and mob rule.' Me too, Robbie Mason, Me too. In fact, the whole affair reminded me of Milan Kundera's first novel, The Joke, which describes how a student's private joke derails his life. Naturally, the author was my special study in Year 12 English. The novel opens with Ludvik back in his hometown in Moravia, where he is shocked to realise he recognises the woman cutting his hair, though neither acknowledges the other. In the novel, he reflects on the joke that changed his life in the early 1950s, when he was a supporter of the Communist regime. A girl in his class wrote to him about 'optimistic young people filled through and through with the healthy spirit' of Marxism; he replied caustically, 'Optimism is the opium of mankind! A healthy spirit stinks of stupidity! Long live Trotsky!' Pressured to share the contents of the letter with others in the Communist Party at school, Ludvik is unanimously expelled from the Party and from the college. Having lost his student exemption, he is drafted into the Czech military where alleged subversives formed work brigades, and spent the next few years working in the mines at a labor camp in Ostrava. I shall report back how it goes for me in Ostrava. Wish me luck.
