Links: Domestic Violence

Currently Down Under, domestic violence is being talked about a great deal by politicians - for example, by the announcement once again of a national domestic violence order scheme - but their actions don't match their rhetoric. In my home state of New South Wales, the state government (which has just been re-elected) has instituted "reforms" which have left domestic violence shelters for women without funding. Federal cuts to funding have contributed to the fatal mess.

Domestic violence costs the life of one Australian woman each week. Although women in New South Wales overwhelmingly say domestic violence orders make them safer, in NSW and Victoria thousands of orders are being violated. Many violations are not reported or not prosecuted.

Meanwhile Up Over: Georgia's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, part of a movement across the US to introduce laws allowing discrimination on religious grounds, has the potential to affect not just queer folk but to permit discrimination against Blacks, Muslims, and Jews... and to protect spousal abusers and child abusers. (ETA: Georgia watches Indiana and Arkansas, then lets discrimination bill die quietly. Thank fuck.)

Speaking of child abuse, it costs Australia nine billion dollars each year.

Although data is imperfectly collected, in Victoria, family violence is "the biggest issue facing police", comprising half of assaults.

Statistics on DV in Australia, with references: Reporting on Domestic Violence, September 2014

Links: Mental Health

The Federal Government has re-funded mental health services - but only for another twelve months. I'm not sure if I'm personally affected by this, but I'm furious that sick Australians and their families are once again being treated as unimportant - an afterthought at best, disposable at worst.

Many Australians ignorant of anxiety disorders

Returned Australian soldiers with PTSD plead for more help as Four Corners program reveals widespread depression and homelessness

This news report has all the fun statistics on suicide in Australia. Also a bundle of laughs: increasing self-harm by children. A ton of related issues come into play here, including bullying, homophobia and transphobia, and the continuing disaster of Indigenous health.

I'm gonna file this under "mental health" because (a) it's the latest attempt to provoke dysmorphia in women and (b) it's nuts: How the mons pubis became the new thigh gap

ETA: Treating mentally ill prisoners would save enormous sums: "Hundreds of psychotic inmates in NSW jails are not receiving any treatment."

Refugee Update: Nauru

But before Nauru, this disturbing news: five asylum seekers and one other man were being held in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison in WA; apparently two have since been sent to Christmas Island. This was punishment for peacefully protesting the length of their detention the available medical treatment, including that given to a man who is now blind in one eye.

The Moss Report was finally tabled by the government under cover of former PM Malcolm Fraser's death. It found evidence of sexual assault and child sexual abuse at the detention centre on Nauru and of guards preying on women detainees, and no evidence to back up the government's claim that employees of Save The Children had encouraged detainees to self-harm or protest.

PM Tony Abbott's response was that "Occasionally, I daresay, things happen, because in any institution you get things that occasionally aren't perfect." The government will not apologise to the slandered social workers. A Senate Committee will investigate.

Inside The Department: The Explosive Leaked Transcripts From The Moss Review: a high-ranking civil servant gives startling insights into the Department of Immigration's response to crises on both Manus and Nauru. New Matilda also has: Witness Threats, 'Inhuman Guards', Rapes And Deaths At Sea: Testimony That Didn't Make The Moss Review

'Even God can't help you here': Nauru refugees describe a life devoid of hope: "In covert interviews, refugees settled on Nauru under Australia's asylum policy tell of fear, desperation and a profound sense of helplessness."