CEVAW Analysis

This article examines recommendations from Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) in submissions to Australian federal parliamentary inquiries that considered family violence.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) affects over a quarter of Australians, yet many victim-survivors never disclose their experiences or do so decades later. Responses to disclosure strongly influence safety, wellbeing, and long-term healing. Disclosure is increasingly understood as a gradual, lifelong process shaped by personal, social and institutional factors. Improving professional and community responses requires a deeper understanding of victim-survivors' experiences.

The term ‘climate violence’ is increasingly used to describe the intersection of climate change and violence. In the research literature, climate violence has been conceptualised in varied ways, reflected in emergent and intersecting definitions and descriptions.

Fifty years ago, the first women's refuge opened in Sydney. Today, Australia has national plans, specialist police units, landmark legislation, and a sector of hundreds of organisations. So what has actually changed – and what hasn't?

Alcohol and other drugs aren't just substances people use, they're tools perpetrators weaponise to extend control and abuse. In this episode, researchers and practitioners unpack substance use coercion: how it shows up in families' everyday lives, why it's so challenging to address, and what trauma-sensitive responses require. Essential listening for anyone working in child and family services, domestic violence support, or substance use treatment.

Professors Heather Douglas, Julia Tolmie and Kyllie Cripps bring legal expertise, research insights and lived experience to unpack the limits of the current justice system – and what we should be asking instead.