Domestic and family violence that encompasses many different behaviours from child sexual abuse to elder abuse which occurs in the private sphere was the focus of a forum run by CQ University in Busselton.
QLD Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Researcher and CQUniversity senior lecturer Dr Marika Guggisberg was the guest speaker at the forum, addressing stakeholders from the WA Police and industry organisations.
Dr Guggisberg said Royal Commissions on child sexual abuse and aged care in Australia had focused solely on what had occurred in institutions.
She said while these were important matters to address, institutional crimes only made up a small proportion of crimes that were committed in family homes.
"We are much more comfortable talking about the public sphere and stranger danger rather than drawing attention to the family home being a dangerous place for many children, adults and older Australians in the family," she said.
"Talking about family members exhibiting abusive and violent behaviours seems to be threatening; it is much easier to talk about the community, the public sphere and government responsibilities to keep us safe."
Dr Guggisberg said a focus on people who were unrelated to each other was easier to focus on rather than individuals who were in a relationship in one way or another.
She said attitudes of mistrust, disbelief and victim blaming existed when people talked about crimes committed in the family home.
"If the victim - offender relationship is in a way that they are not related, it is easier to believe when things go wrong," she said.
"The best way to break this attitude of not wanting to focus on complex and difficult issues is to raise awareness.
"The Royal Commission into institutionalised child sexual abuse is really good at pointing out things which had been undercover for decades.
"What we need to be aware of is that child sexual abuse is most often perpetrated by a known family member with statistics consistently showing that institutionalised child sexual abuse was actually the minority of all the prevalence that occurs.
"Most child sexual abuse occurs in the private family home and most victims never come forward."
A report released by Bravehearts in October 2019, showed of 25,500 women who participated in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, 13 to 16 per cent reported experiencing sexual abuse as a child.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 2017 found 11 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men reported being sexually abused before the age of 15 years - that is an estimated 1.4 million people living in Australia.
Of those, 58 per cent had been sexually abused the first time before their 10th birthday.
Dr Guggisberg said in terms of elder abuse, women started to disclose in old age because they felt safer to say something.
"What happens is that people suddenly become suspicious, and think the victim probably made it up," she said.
"The Royal Commission into elder abuse had the same features.
"It was community focused and safer, you could report on that without feeling like you were intruding into the private sphere.
"We need to be careful we are not colluding with political agendas or silencing victims who are being abused in the family home.
"The biggest thing is giving victims a voice."
"Some professions have legal duties (mandatory reporting requirements) to report known or suspected child sexual abuse, but all community members have a moral obligation to protect vulnerable children to ensure that sexual abuse is not concealed and allowed to continue.
"We need to overcome the inherent discomfort of not focusing on intrafamilial abuse and violence."
If you or someone you know are in crisis or needs help please contact:
- Lifeline on 13 11 44
- Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636
- In an emergency call 000
- Waratah on 9791 2884 or 1800 017 303
- Kid's Helpline on 1800 551 800.