Leaders call for rural communities to “own” the problem

Rural Australia needs to own its share of responsibility when it comes to stopping violence against women, a high profile farm leader says.

Thousands gather outside the State Library for the national rally against gender based violence. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Rural Australia needs to own its share of responsibility when it comes to stopping violence against women, a high profile farm leader says.

Rates of violence by men against women in rural and regional areas were “horrifying and seemingly getting worse”, the former National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson said this week.

Her comments come as national cabinet meets today to discuss the growing issue, following rallies against violence in both regional and metropolitan areas.

Almost half of the 28 women killed violently so far this year were in regional Australia.

“Obviously it’s multifaceted and deeply complex, but I think the lack of resources across the board for women, men and children in rural and regional Australia makes it worse,” Ms Simson said.

“We all need to own the issue.”

Former National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson. Picture: John Elliott

New data analysed by The Weekly Times shows family violence and repeated sexual abuse is affecting country women and children far greater than their metro counterparts.

Rural women are being attacked and hospitalised 12-fold more than in the city.

Crime Statistics Agency data reveals 19 of the 20 Victorian local government areas with the highest rates of family incidents were all regional or rural, while almost a quarter of LGAs recording an upward trend in reports in the past five years.

The situation has been described as “horrendous” with leaders calling for urgent boost to State Government funded for more intervention programs and radical changes to how rural communities approach the issue.

Top 20 Victorian LGAs for family violence by population rates, 2023.

East Gippsland had the highest recorded incidents, with 1783 reports or a rate of 3609 per 100,000 population for the 12 months to December 2023.

In East Gippsland, about 75 per cent of the people affected by the family violence were female and 25 per cent men.

Research shows men are more commonly perpetrators of physical violence and sexual violence.

No to Violence chief executive officer Phillip Ripper said violence was a “massive rural problem with horrendous” statistics showing hospitalisation rose dramatically the further away you lived from the city.

Outside major cities, there was a 50 per cent higher rate of family violence, he said, and a quarter of rural women experienced it, with 145 rural or remote women per 100,000 population hospitalised annually due to family violence, compared with 12 city-based women.

Mr Ripper said funding for behavioural change programs was “woefully inadequate”.

“And we know that is what’s needed to help break what is often a cycle of intergenerational violence and trauma,” he said.

High-risk men were also not being held to account by courts, often accumulating five to six victims over time, he said. “To rural men, I’d say if you find yourself wanting to control your partner, it is time you stopped and thought about controlling yourself.”

Meanwhile, another new study has shone a light on the impact re-victimisation has on sexually abused rural woman and children in rural Australia.

Rural communities and services, along with families themselves, too often failed to confront abuse due to the myth that “good community men” don’t inflict harm, work by the Centre Against Sexual Assault, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and society and La Trobe University found.

CASA Central Victoria chief executive officer Kate Wright said the problem was current, not historical, and greater funding was needed for specialised sexual assault services to reach rural areas. An immediate boost of $10 million was need in the state budget to begin to address the shortfall.

Family Violence Prevention minister Nicki Ward’s office was contacted for comment.

For help, Women’s Crisis Line 1800 811 811 and Men’s Referral Service 1300 766 491