Results from a poll undertaken by Essential Research have found that 74 per cent of the 1006 people surveyed believe that domestic violence greater than, or equal to terrorism as a threat.
The poll found that 48 per cent believe it is a greater threat than terrorism and 26 per cent that it was an equal threat. Only 18 per cent thought it was less and eight per cent didn’t know.
This result also follows a report by Fairfax that in New South Wales 90 per cent of refuges for abused women were full, resulting in women in need being turned away.
In a statement to accompany the release of the poll results, Australian of the Year, Rosie Batty, has called for governments to reassess the priority given to domestic violence.
“We’re spending hundreds of millions extra on the war on terrorism, but women who fear for their safety are still being turned away from services because of a lack of funds,” she said.
“Women and children are dying because of family violence and we need to see a commensurate response.
“There is no shortage of goodwill from our leaders, but we need words put into action including increased funding of family violence services. Every day they wait, more lives are put at significant risk.”
The Federal Government has committed $100 million over four years to support the reduction of violence against women and children and has allocated $230 million to extend the national partnership agreement on homelessness, with priority to be given to services focusing on women and children affected by domestic violence.
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Opinion: The right to feel safe
All we want is to feel safe in our own homes, it’s a basic human right. Yet each week one woman dies in Australia as a result of domestic violence. And it’s not just women at risk with one in three victims of domestic violence or abuse being male.
As we saw with the tragic events in Adelaide on Friday, where AFL coach Phil Walsh was murdered and his wife receiving non-critical injuries, which were believed to have been inflicted by their son, domestic violence is a real threat to us all.
Whether it’s rising unemployment, alcoholism, drugs or even just a predilection towards violence which fuels such acts, the reality is we’re far more likely to be attacked in our own homes by someone we know than face a terrorist act in a public place.
Australia’s first experience of terrorism was 100 years ago in 1915 when two camel drivers attacked a train carrying 1200 passengers in Broken Hill, NSW. Since then terrorist attacks have been sporadic and while the threat is growing, there have been 35 prosecutions and 26 convictions following attempted or planned attacks. The reality is that few people have died as a result of terrorism.
Yet a 2012 Personal Safety Survey, which provides the most up to date figures on domestic violence found that:
- 49 per cent of men (4,148,000) and 41 per cent of women (3,560,600) had experienced some form of violence since the age of 15
- men and women who had experienced sexual assault since the age of 15 were more likely to have been assaulted by someone they knew rather than by a stranger. An estimated 15 per cent of women had been sexually assaulted by a known person compared to four per cent who were assaulted by a stranger
proving that it not always better the devil you know.
Australian of the Year, Rosie Batty, is to be commended for her determination to fight the battle on behalf of victims of domestic violence. Having lost her 11-year-old son Luke to an act of extreme violence by his estranged father, Rosie is well placed to understand the threat of domestic violence. However, we must also acknowledge that victims of domestic violence come from all walks of life, are male and female and the threat in their own homes is much great than any threat from terrorism.
Should we be addressing issues, such as domestic violence, before worrying about the likelihood of a terrorist attack? Do you think the fear of terrorism has been over-played? Or do you think we have yet to be attacked because the government has its response to the threat of terrorism spot on?
