There has been a 20 per cent increase in the number of people accessing regional services for family violence in the South West, according to Legal Aid WA’s annual report.
Last financial year, 484 people in the South West accessed services for family violence making it the highest regional area in WA.
Legal Aid WA acting regional director Brianna Lonnie said the increase was significant and families had accessed services for family court, child protection and restraining orders.
Compared to the rest of WA which experienced a 22 per cent increase, there was a 40 per cent increase in court services for family violence in the South West.
Ms Lonnie said a combination of factors had contributed to the spike which included an increased awareness throughout the community which came from legal engagement.
She said it was also due to service providers being able to identify family violence and direct people to legal services and making legal services more accessible to people.
“We have developed new programs which provide holistic approaches to families experiencing family violence, which is run in conjunction with the South West Community Legal Centre and Waratah,” she said.
“We are providing duty lawyer services at Bunbury Court along with social support services so people are able to access a social worker and a lawyer who work together on a person’s legal matters.”
Ms Lonnie said people who accessed their services and were experiencing family violence were often in crisis and Legal Aid WA was now better placed to respond to a person’s needs.
“They are complex needs and there are often issues of housing, risk of homelessness and safety, and people may need urgent assistance,” she said.
“There are often financial issues or mental health support needed for drug and alcohol issues, there are often a wide range of issues people are experiencing where there has been family violence.”
Ms Lonnie said not only were they trying to improve access to legal services for people who experienced family violence, but also for people who inflicted family violence.
She said they hoped this would give people better means of getting help and support they needed to make changes in their life to ensure their children were safe and could move forward without family violence.
South West Refuge chief executive officer Michelle Bickers said the number of people disclosing family and domestic violence continued to show the severity of the problem within the community.
Ms Bickers said it was encouraging to see so many clients experiencing family and domestic violence being referred to or accepting support for legal assistance.
She said this demonstrated the referrals from services, such as South West Refuge were being noted and actioned to the benefit of the person experiencing family and domestic violence.
Collie Police Senior Sergeant Heath Soutar said family violence was a serious issue in Collie.
“Family violence has always been an issue here just like it is everywhere,” he said.
“Every week we are dealing with family violence situations and we take it extremely seriously. As we’ve seen increased use of drugs and alcohol, there’s been a correlation with family violence.”
He said there was a lot of support services available to those affected by family violence.
“There are a lot of services out there, but getting people affected to get in touch with those services can be a bit of a struggle,” he said.
“In Collie we have the Collie Family Centre, but there’s also services down the hill such as the South West Refuge.”
Prevention of family and domestic violence minister Simone McGurk will lead a delegation of experts at the national Reducing Violence Against Women summit in Adelaide this week.
Ms McGurk said WA had the second highest incidence of family and domestic violence in Australia, following the Northern Territory.
She said the state government was looking at a suite of measures to further support Western Australians impacted by family and domestic violence.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Ms McGurk said the state was seeking funding to keep women safe in their homes and for family and domestic violence prevention programs for men in prisons.
“The Western Australian community has been rocked by multiple family homicides, in addition to the thousands of reports of family and domestic violence each year,” she said.
“There is no quick fix to this very serious issue and we all have an important role to play.”
If you have experienced sexual assualt, domestic or family violence please contact 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
