As with the existing attributes protected by the current Act, domestic and family violence is exacerbated by prejudices within the community.
People form unfair and unreasonable opinions about those experiencing domestic and family violence without enough thought or knowledge, and then act on those opinions accordingly.
Opinions like they should just leave, or it will impact my own safety to be around them or this type of thing only happens to people of certain socio-economic or cultural backgrounds.
We now have enough information and research to know domestic and family violence can happen to anyone, they are not always able to leave, they often suffer in silence and, most importantly, it is not their choice.
We also know that it impacts women disproportionately, which has implications for their participation in various areas of public life, such as work and education.
However, when men complain about domestic and family violence they are often not believed.
Some societal attitudes make it difficult for those experiencing domestic and family violence to come forward to an employer about taking leave to manage it, to a teacher if they have not been able to complete an assessment, to someone managing their accommodation, or to someone providing them a health service.
Given these attitudes, fear of discrimination if they did come forward is justified, especially as there are currently no protections against domestic and family violence discrimination in the Act.
The State Government has announced that vital changes to the Act are being drafted and it hopes to be able to introduce a bill to Parliament once that process is finalised.
The recent Law Reform Commission review of the current Act found protections under the Act do not go far enough to protect those experiencing of domestic and family violence.
It stated in its review report, “The law should provide protection for victims from such discrimination as part of the community’s effort to expose perpetrators, support victims and stop the offending. The (Law Reform) Commission considers that the proposed objects of the Act will be furthered by introducing a new ground to protect victims of domestic and family violence from discrimination.”
Within the report was an example of domestic violence discrimination from one of the submissions made to the Law Reform Commission’s review.
It involved an Aboriginal person who was a single parent and had a family violence restraining order (FVRO) against the perpetrator. The person worked at a small store and the FVRO prevented the perpetrator from entering the store. The person told their employer about the FVRO and explained the poice would need to be called if the perpetrator entered the store.
The employer told them that they would not prevent the perpetrator from entering the store regardless of the FVRO. The employer dismissed the person because the FVRO made their working at the store too difficult for the employer.
For those in WA suffering in silence, the Commission’s hope for this year’s 16 Days of WA is domestic and family violence discrimination will soon be unlawful under the Act so people will be able to seek assistance and be safe in the knowledge they will be protected against discrimination.
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