Panel of Byron Bay community leaders unpack torment of DV and abuse, and looks at ways to tackle the issue

Anger and frustration was rife in the room at Byron Community Centre, but there was also hope for community-led solutions to the pervasive problem.

Mark Swivel, psychologist Jane Enter, David Heilpern, Byron Shire deputy mayor Sarah Ndiaye, social worker Jenelle Bowen and Dr Tonya Coren at It's Not Okay, a forum hosted by Barefoot Law at Byron Community Centre on Thursday, June 17, 2021. Picture: Liana Boss

Are communities leaning too heavily on overworked, under-resourced services to solve the toxic, pervasive issue of abusive behaviour?

This was among the lingering questions raised at a recent community forum in Byron Bay.

And the questions were plentiful: where do we start to tackle the core beliefs that underpin abusive behaviour (at school, in the womb?) and how can we make this behaviour penalised in our halls of power?

There was no shortage of anger and frustration at the injustice of circumstances faced by many victims.

There was also hope: a “common denominator” for many victims is something a collective of kind-hearted community members has the power to change.

“Isolation is often a central part of the experience and the suffering,” Mark Swivel, founder of Barefoot Law which hosted the forum, said.

“As a community we can often outsource things to professional service providers (who have a) thankless job.”

He said it was up to the community to change that.

Along with Mr Swivel – a Byron Shire Council candidate – the forum involved local consultant psychologist Jane Enter, general practitioner Dr Tonya Coren, social worker Jenelle Bowen, Byron’s deputy mayor Sarah Ndiaye and former magistrate David Heilpern.

Mr Heilpern said in his years on the bench, he observed a poorly-resourced criminal justice system response to domestic violence, compared to other issues like drug offences.

While assault and breaching an apprehended violence order attracts a maximum penalty of two years in prison, shoplifting can get offenders five years, while a break-and-enter can send you to prison for up to 14 years.

“In my face was an absolute chronic structural bias against family violence,” Mr Heilpern said.

“Of the tens of thousands of search warrants that crossed my desk, not one was for domestic violence.

“Policing for domestic violence is reactive.”

David Heilpern and Mark Swivel.

Mr Heilpern said community values around domestic violence and other abuse-related crimes was not reflected in policing.

“(It) is a lot less attractive policing than an undercover operation for a crack house,” he said.

Ms Enter said through her psychological work, she’d seen people “impacted quite severely by coercive control, stalking and obsessional love”.

“It really impacts people’s mental health and traumatises them,” she said.

“It’s not just one person that gets affected; it’s every aspect of their life.

“I think as a community if we were more attentive …. we could go further towards being a community that gives a message that this is something we don’t condone.”

Ms Bowen, from the Women’s Resource Centre which is a Byron-based specialised domestic violence service, said it was important to move away from reactive response to violence.

“What I’d love to focus on is community values … (and) rather than being reactive and responding at that end how do we create a community where those values are embedded?” she said.

She said there was research to suggest “core belief systems are embedded around 12 years old”, meaning respectful relationship education for teens couldn’t be the only answer.

But she said Love bites, a healthy relationship program running in local schools was successful but it has been focused on an older age group.

Ms Ndiaye expressed deep concern that almost half of all apprehended violence orders in New South Wales are breached.

“I would love it as a community if we could be embedding … those values earlier and making sure that there’s the services that women or people need and also the services for young men,” she said.

The group has called for members of the community to better support victims and to instil anti-abuse values in children from a young age.

Dr Coren echoed others’ calls for the community to do a better job of wrapping around victims when they are in times of crisis.

“These people feel alone and our job is to hold them and support them and make sure they’re not isolated,” she said.

There was also talk of helping offenders to get better.

Mr Swivel said there was value in “understanding the suffering of men who are the perpetrators in all of this” and to assess “what’s driving the behaviour”.

“No one chooses to behave in a monstrous way,” he said.