Family violence in the south-west has risen by 26 per cent in the past financial year with professionals believing it will only worsen.
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Warrnambool's Emma House, a relief organisation for woman affected by family violence, processed 2534 victim-survivors in the past 12 months. 1786 of those were referred by the police, 592 were self-referrals and 166 were agency referrals.
Emma House executive officer Ruth Isbel said the increased figures were predicted to be higher but the coronavirus pandemic saw a slight decrease in intakes in March and April.
"Our numbers have stayed fairly consistent throughout the pandemic but in the last week or two we've seen a significant increase in instances relating to a response when previously people may have only been ringing for information," she said.
"We're seeing a significant number of younger women with younger perpetrators who are their intimate partners which highlights where we need to be putting our preventative measures in - early intervention and education.
"I think this increase could be in terms of having more awareness for young people from programs in schools like Respectful Relationships and they're becoming more aware of what violence is."
In the 2018/19 financial year there was 1873 intakes, with 1347 police referrals, 361 self-referrals and 165 agency referrals.
The family violence service also had 88 cases referred to its legal service for the financial year and legal tasks had significantly increased from 763 in 2018/19 to 1108 over the past 12 months.
Ms Isbel is speaking at the state parliamentary inquiry into homelessness on Monday where she will highlight the link between homelessness and family violence which has heightened since the beginning of the pandemic.
"We've seen a sharp increase in the need to support women with homelessness or housing arrangements and this has increased in relation to COVID," she said.
"The feeling for our team is that about 80 per cent of intakes have issues relating to housing or homelessness, or are at risk.
Rental properties and private housing is at a standstill which means women and children are in crisis accommodation for longer and we are relying more on these services.
- Ruth Isbel
Ms Isbel said the government pumped significant funds into safe housing initiatives after the Royal Commission into Family Violence but "it's still not enough".
"There remains a bottleneck; a real shortage of affordable and safe housing alternatives," she said.
Despite the recent spike of women presenting to the family violence service, Ms Isbel said it would take months, if not years, for the impact of the pandemic to be known.
"The overall effects of COVID won't really be known until well after the pandemic," she said.
"What we do know is the awareness of family violence is getting lost in the coronavirus headlines. There were six women in Australia who died in 16 days in May by their intimate partners and we heard very little about it."
Warrnambool police family violence prosecutor Carolyn Howe said despite the number of family violence incidents remaining consistent throughout the pandemic, the worst could be still to come.
"My personal perspective is that the numbers have remained the same and we won't see the real increase until the work from home requirements are lifted, children return to formal education schedules and victims are safe to seek out assistance from services," she said.
"Once children speak freely about what has happened at home and services return to face-to-face engagement I anticipate we will see the spike at that point."
Mrs Howe said she had "no doubt" family violence was occurring behind "state-sanctioned closed doors".
Victims will not be safe to speak out until restrictions are lifted.
- Carolyn Howe
Mrs Howe said the biggest concern was a lack of face-to-face contact with victim-survivors.
"We are not reading people's faces and watching their body language when checking in," she said.
"We don't know who is beside them when they are talking to us on the phone and therefore we can't gauge the truth of the simple answer 'I'm fine'."
Mrs Howe said people were well aware of the government's $1652 fine for leaving the home unnecessarily during the pandemic.
"But we are not hearing the government reassure victims they are free to leave and seek assistance," she said.
Mrs Howe said the south-west was fortunate to have many general medical practitioners, places of faith and support agencies available to victim-survivors.
"We are a community that speaks out about violence but victims at the present time can't get face-to-face time with those agencies to seek assistance," she said.
Warrnambool Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Asenjo, commanding officer of the Warrnambool-based south-west family violence unit, said there were "new trends" of family violence being reported during the pandemic.
"The first is people reporting the very first act of violence," he said.
"It is very common knowledge that the first report to police is not always the first time it has gone on in the home. So an increase in first reports is a really positive step and hopefully means the community is confident in the police's ability to respond."
Senior Sergeant Asenjo said police had also identified an increase in reported "criminal conflict".
"Something that may have previously been reported as a non-criminal episode, such as controlling or coercive behaviour, is now being reported as a crime," he said.
"That could be the result of victims, or those reporting on behalf of the victims, being more confident to say exactly what is going on in the house, as well as police being better at reporting these things as an actual criminal offence."
Women's Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West chief executive Emma Mahony said the impact of coronavirus was beginning to show in the south-west.
"The numbers are definitely showing there is an increase," she said.
"Research shows pandemics are a time when family violence escalates. In isolation women have less choice to leave and their partner has more surveillance.
"In the context of COVID, there is more ability to keep women trapped."
Ms Mahony said another dimension was "money control".
"How are victim-survivors supposed to find the funds to flee?" she said.
"There is already the existing problem of women earning less and having insecure work."
Women's Health and Wellbeing's work revolves around prevention and Ms Mahony said gender equality was the solution to preventing family violence.
"While gender inequality doesn't feel like it's directly causing family violence, it is in the soil in which violence grows," she said.
"In terms of COVID, women are disproportionally on the frontline meaning they're more vulnerable to the virus. Women are also more likely to be in casual, part-time or short-term contract jobs and have been losing their work.
"In addition, women are disproportionally recognised as the caregivers and many were adding homeschooling to this load.
We need to start recognising the invisible load women carry.
- Emma Mahony
Joining over 100 organisations committed to gender equity and women across Victoria, Women's Health and Wellbeing are part of a joint statement calling for state and federal governments to recognise the gendered impacts of COVID-19 and Ms Mahony is urging for further government commitment.
"We need leadership to invest in the caring, cleaning and health aspects of work," she said. "We need governments to begin equalised increments of pay going forward for some time and that's a federal decision we can make now.
"If we start recognising these rigid stereotypes sitting beneath family violence which can begin with comments the footy room and exist to women retiring with, on average, 50 per cent less superannuation than men, we will be well on our way to limiting the experiences of next generation to family violence.
"The problem is violence, caused by gender inequality, the solution is gender equality."
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
Emma House is a Warrnambool-based not-for-profit service and can be contacted through 1800 EMMADV (1800 366238) or visit emmahouse.org.au/
Safe Steps for women after hours service is available through 188 015 188.
Brophy Family and Youth Services can be contacted on 1300 BROPHY or 03 5561 8888.
Women's Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West prevention information can be found at womenshealthbsw.org.au
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