Nicole Dye, Sandra Keogh on Cairns region’s domestic violence crisis

Domestic violence service leaders in Cairns are calling for more consequences for domestic abusers, as efforts to provide emergency support to women and children hit ‘breaking point’.

Domestic violence service leaders in Cairns are calling for more consequences for domestic abusers, as efforts to provide emergency support to women and children hit “breaking point”.

It comes as shocking court data reveals the Cairns Magistrates Court has dealt with more than 2000 new DV charges in the past ten months – the highest in the state and almost double the number of charges lodged in Brisbane.

But the figures only reveal a fraction of the region’s domestic violence crisis, with local services reporting more than 100 victims seek emergency support each week.

Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service chief executive Sandra Keogh said on any given day three to four women desperate for a safe place to stay would knock on her organisation’s door.

Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service chief executive Sandra Keogh. Picture: Nuno Avendano

“We are consistently busy, our resources are always stretched and we find at the moment – and it has been the case for the last kind of two to three years now – where we’re really having to concentrate on that crisis response,” she said.

“People presenting in crisis and needing that really immediate assistance to try and achieve safety.”

Cairns Women’s Centre manager Nicole Dye said her organisation was at “breaking point” with more than 100 women reaching out for help each week.

“Services are just being inundated and we cannot keep up with the demand,” she said.

“A lot of people just think that it is physical (violence), but quite often it isn’t. It’s all the other types of violence – financial, coercive, control, emotional.

“Some women don’t recognise that they are in a domestic violence relationship. It manifests in many different ways.”

Women's Centre Cairns manager Nicole Dye. Picture: Brendan Radke

While any number of women being abused is unacceptable, Ms Keogh said perceptions that domestic violence was increasing may not paint the complete picture.

“Sometimes it can be hard to pinpoint whether it’s getting worse or whether we’re actually getting better at reporting that and holding people to account,” she said.

“And understanding that domestic and family violence isn’t just physical violence, there’s lots of elements to domestic and family violence, and I think people are getting better at identifying that.”

Ms Dye however has no doubt domestic violence has got worse over her 20 years of work in the sector.

“People have had a gutful. I know people who have been in this sector, myself included … who think it’s the worst it’s ever been,” she said.

The leaders are however united on what’s needed to turn the tide – a shift in accountability and consequences, Ms Keogh said.

“I’ve been doing this work for 19 years, and we interrogate victim survivors’ stories over and over and over again. I’m exhausted by that,” she said.

“We need to start having robust conversations with the person who’s using violence and really start to send a unified and clear message that it’s not OK.

“We’re in the middle of a pandemic and I would really like to see us move beyond having conversations. To be frank, we’ve had this conversation before and the government has the information. What we need them to do is act.

“There are so many other ways that we can introduce accountability and consequences without always relying on the police. It shouldn’t just be solely the domain of the justice system,” Ms Dye added.

“Child support, Centrelink, the family court system – perpetrators need to be identified by these systems and called out.”

Across Australia, one in four women over the age of 15 has experienced violence, emotional or economic abuse at the hands of a partner, according to Our Watch.

Originally published as Nicole Dye, Sandra Keogh on Cairns region’s domestic violence crisis