Aboriginal, Torres Strait and South Sea Islanders from throughout the State are set to offer support to the Queensland Centre for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence.

A 10-member reference group is being developed by QCPDFV Director Heather Nancarrow in a bid to ensure the Centre and its activities respond to the needs of Aboriginal, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander communities in the prevention of domestic and family violence.

“The impact of colonisation has had a devastating effect on Aboriginal and Islander communities, including disproportionate levels of violence, ” she said.

“As a Queensland-wide Centre for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, we have a responsibility to address domestic and family violence in all communities and prioritise strategies to deal with violence where people are most at risk.

“The reference group will be a critical source of information and guidance for the Centre’s cross-cultural work as well as promoting opportunities available for Aboriginal, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander people in the form of work or study through the Centre.

Ms Nancarrow said the rate of domestic and family violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities was up to 45 times higher than the rate for the Australian community generally. Indigenous people were also disproportionately represented in the domestic violence homicide figures.

“Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comprise just over 3% of the Queensland population, they were victims in about 30% of domestic homicides and offenders in about 30% of domestic homicides in the eight-year period from January 1994 to December 2001. This clearly signals the urgent need for violence prevention programs in these communities,” she concluded.

The Centre has also formed an agreement with the State’s Immigrant Women’s Support Service, based in Brisbane, to ensure the needs of non-English speaking communities are also addressed in culturally relevant ways in the work of the Centre.