How Australia's migration system is failing victims of gendered violence

Family violence doesn’t discriminate. It cuts across cultural, ethnic and socioeconomic groups, but while all levels of government have moved to put it on the public agenda, there remains a glaring gap in Australia’s response to family violence as it relates to women who are temporary migrants.

Despite detailed and extensive research into these vulnerable members of the community, calls for action to reform our migration system, which “compounds and sustains family violence”, have so far fallen on deaf ears, says Associate Professor Marie Segrave, a Monash associate professor in criminology.

“Australia continues to ignore the fact that migration status can impact how and whether women seek support and intervention when experiencing family violence,” she says.

Associate Professor Segrave says some of the barriers to seeking support include fear of deportation, loss of custody of children, and ineligibility for social support, such as Centrelink benefits, income support and limited health and education services.

Further, she says the fear, uncertainty and insecurity women feel about their migration status is being exploited by family members or partners to “exert coercion and control” over them.

“Our complex migration system is failing victims of gendered violence, who are on temporary visas in Australia,” she says.

“In some circumstances, perpetrators have threatened to report their partners to immigration authorities and jeopardise their residency applications as a form of coercion and family violence.”

National plan backed

This year, on 19 August, the Council of Australian Governments endorsed the fourth iteration of the Australian government’s National Action Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 .

The plan sets out “eight principles to guide the way all industries, sectors and areas of government work together to address domestic, family and sexual violence”.

Within this plan, national priority three is: “Respect, listen and respond to the diverse lived experience and knowledge of women and their children affected by violence.”

"There is radio silence on the way in which our migration system compounds and sustains family violence via empowering perpetrators who are citizens to control and coerce women who are temporary migrants."

Associate Professor Segrave says the most recent plan is “limited on detail and fails to recognise the complexity of women’s experiences”, particularly migrant women.

“Specifically, there is radio silence on the way in which our migration system compounds and sustains family violence via empowering perpetrators who are citizens to control and coerce women who are temporary migrants.

“Australia needs to improve service delivery and support for victims of domestic violence who have temporary migration status, and prioritise victims’ safety over visa status,” she says.

In a bid to provide a roadmap to tackle the issue, the National Advocacy Group on Women on Temporary Visas Experiencing Violence, led by the Australian Women Against Violence Alliance (AWAVA), has just released its Blueprint for Reform: Removing Barriers to Safety for Victims Survivors of Domestic and Family Violence who are on Temporary Visas .

The culmination of many months’ work by leaders across a range of sectors, the blueprint addresses gaps in the federal government’s migration and family violence legislation that creates serious, and well-evidenced, risks of harm for victims and survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence who hold temporary visas.

Key findings of the blueprint include:

• Women on temporary visas experiencing family violence face difficulties in qualifying for social security rights, including legal, welfare and medical services.
• These women are at risk of visa cancellation or visa refusal if they separate from a perpetrator or report the violence to police.
• Women on temporary visas at risk of domestic, sexual and family violence experience compounded trauma and stress due to significant processing delays on their protection or partner visa applications.
• Online visa applications and communication make it easier for an abusive or controlling Australian partner to control their partner’s visa process, as couples have a shared Immi account.
• Current family violence provisions, in Division 1.5 of the Federal Migration Regulations (1994), are available to a very narrow cohort of victims and survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence, and often exclude women with temporary migration status.
• For the purposes of the family violence provisions, violence perpetrated by family members other than a sponsoring partner is not being recognised. This fails to recognise that living with extended family other than a sponsoring partner is the norm for certain cultural groups, and it’s often the partner’s family who are perpetrating violence against victims and survivors.
• For people on various temporary visas, the migration system doesn’t provide a solution where there’s a child born in Australia, and the other parent (Australian resident or citizen) wants the child to live long-term in Australia.

Some of the report’s recommended reforms include:

• amendments to the current family violence provisions
• introducing a new temporary visa for victims and survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence
• creating a permanent residency pathway where family law court orders take children into account
• recognising the stigma of domestic, family and sexual violence and separation for women on temporary visas who are returning to their home country.
   

Not the first to urge action

It’s not the first report highlighting, and urging action on, the plight of migrant women experiencing intimate partner violence and their difficulty in navigating Australia’s migration legislation.

In 2015, the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland released its report, Not Now, Not Ever , that noted the need to attend to the distinct experience of migrant women.

Then, in 2016, the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence stated more specifically:

“People from CALD [culturally and linguistically diverse] backgrounds without permanent residency can feel they’re unable to leave an abusive relationship because doing so will have consequences for their visa status – for example, possible deportation to their country of origin and loss of their children.

“Uncertain visa status can be used by abusive partners or other family members to threaten and control women: a considerable power differential arises when a woman’s partner has permanent residency and she does not. A CALD victim can also be threatened by potential withdrawal of sponsorship of their permanent residency application, having their visa cancelled or having other family members deported. Additionally, they can face harm or ostracism from their family and community if they leave their relationship and return to their country of origin.”

Since then, rigorous, independent research has drawn similar conclusions.

The ASPIRE project , undertaken for Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS), identified that “conditions on temporary visas have serious impacts for the safety of immigrant women experiencing family violence”.

“Temporary visa holders face barriers to getting help, because these visas have various conditions that can restrict access to income support, public housing, healthcare, and childcare services,” it concluded.

Associate Professor Segrave, who was involved in the most recent blueprint for reform, previously led the largest research project undertaken (300 case studies), which focused on temporary migration and family violence, in partnership with inTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence.

In her 2017/18 report, Temporary Migration and Family Violence: An Analysis of Victimisation, Vulnerability and Support , Associate Professor Segrave confirmed what previous reports had found – that “migration status is prioritised over and above the experience of family violence”.

“The response and support made available is dependent on migration status first and foremost, rather than risk and need in relation to experiencing family violence,” she said.

“This is most evident in relation to the limits on access to financial and housing support for women with temporary migration status.

“It is critical that we respond to family violence first and foremost, in its various manifestations across Australia, and that we recognise and support all victims equally, regardless of migration status or any other point of difference.”

It remains the case that this is not happening, she says.

“In the case of migrant women, we have to acknowledge that the unintended consequences of some of our complex migration processes can and do contribute to gendered violence.”

“Across Australia, family violence services, legal services, and other services, are struggling to meet the demand and the complexity of the needs of their clients.

“In the midst of this we have a call for another resource-depleting, unwarranted review of the family law system . It is clear that Australia is losing touch with the reality of family and intimate partner violence, and its devastating, daily impact across the nation.

“We must begin by recognising that wanting to end violence against women is not as simple as wishing it away.

“In the case of migrant women, we have to acknowledge that the unintended consequences of some of our complex migration processes can and do contribute to gendered violence.”