Adults, children and young people who have experienced family violence are referred to as victim survivors.
The word family has many different meanings. This report uses the definition from the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (FVPA), which acknowledges the variety of relationships and structures that can make up a family unit and the range of ways family violence can be experienced, including through family-like or carer relationships (in non-institutional paid carer environments).
The term family violence reflects the FVPA and includes the wider understanding of the term across all communities. Dhelk Dja: Safe Our Way – Strong Culture, Strong Peoples, Strong Families defines family violence as an issue focused on a wide range of physical, emotional, sexual, social, spiritual, cultural, psychological and economic abuses that occur within families, intimate relationships, extended families, kinship networks and communities. It extends to one-on-one fighting, abuse of Indigenous community workers as well as self-harm, injury and suicide.
Family violence is a deeply gendered issue rooted in structural inequalities and an imbalance of power between women and men. While people of all genders can be perpetrators or victim survivors of family violence, overwhelmingly, perpetrators are men, who largely perpetrate violence against women (who are their current or former partner) and children.
Throughout this document, the term Aboriginal is used to refer to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Intersectionality describes how systems and structures interact on multiple levels to oppress, create barriers and overlapping forms of discrimination, stigma and power imbalances based on characteristics such as Aboriginality, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, colour, nationality, refugee or asylum seeker background, migration or visa status, language, religion, ability, age, mental health, socioeconomic status, housing status, geographic location, medical record or criminal record. This compounds the risk of experiencing family violence and creates additional barriers for a person to access the help they need.
The term perpetrator describes adults who choose to use family violence, acknowledging the preferred term for some Aboriginal people and communities, as well as in practice, is a person who uses violence.
Adolescents who use family violence require a different response to family violence used by adults, because of their age and the possibility that they are also victim survivors of family violence. The term perpetrator does not refer to adolescents who use family violence.
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