LOCAL NEWS
AMBER RUSSELL LEGAL PRACTITIONER CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S LEGAL SERVICE
New service Migration and family violence advice for women on temporary visas
CAWLS works with socially and economically disadvantaged women in a region which generally lacks the services and support found in other areas. The region also has one of the highest incidences of DFV in Australia, and has experienced a significant increase in DFV over the past year.1 Prior to the emergence of COVID-19, there had been a trend towards increasing numbers of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) women and families migrating to the Northern Territory. This has been largely associated with the Federal and Territory Government policies on migration pathways, and the emphasis on migration to regional Australia as a means of obtaining permanent residency. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) the migration population in the Northern Territory increased by 15.8% from 2007 to 2016.2
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LAW SOCIETY NT BALANCE EDITION 1|21
As a consequence, the numbers of CALD women on temporary visas (including tourist, bridging, temporary skilled visa, partner visas) presenting at our service for advice about family law and domestic violence has generally increased. For many of these women their partners are using their temporary visa status as tool to exert coercive control. The forms of violence against CALD women by intimate partners can include the threat of the cancellation of visa sponsorship and deportation, threats to annul the marriage with the consequence of bringing shame upon the woman and her family, threats of abandonment, demanding pregnancies be terminated or not permitting pregnancy, regular physical and sexual violence and denigrating comments about the woman to family and friends.
