ANALYSIS: Many politicians and public figures wrongly link violence with Indigenous cultural identity, which only intensifies stigma and does nothing for prevention efforts. By Dr Tracy Westerman.
Content warning: This piece contains descriptions of the impact of violence and abuse.
One woman is killed by an intimate partner every week, on average, in Australia, and studies indicate that she is 11 times more likely to be Indigenous. That’s despite the fact that just 4 per cent of Australian women are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
I am often asked if I believe there is a “culture of violence” in Aboriginal communities. I respond that any offender is enabled by a culture; by those who normalise and minimise violence; who feed their sense of entitlement and demonise victims.
Violence is a human issue, not a Black person issue.
