Resources Page of Glen Waverley Inter Church Council

Report from The Royal Commission into Family Violence

Dear Faith Leaders

Thank you very much for attending today’s consultation session at the Royal Commission into Family Violence.

The Commissioners found the session very informative, and are grateful for the time and insights you gave us. We hope that the session was valuable for each of you as well.

The matters discussed will help the Commission in its task of developing proposals for future initiatives to prevent and respond to family violence. We have made comprehensive notes of the session for this purpose.

At the conclusion of the session Chairperson Marcia Neave summarised the following key themes that had emerged from the discussion:

Recognition that religious communities are microcosms of our community as a whole, and just as family violence occurs in the community at large, it also occurs within faith communities;
Recognition of the breadth of violence experienced in faith communities – not just intimate partner violence and physical violence, but also other forms of abuse such as elder abuse, child abuse and financial abuse;
The importance of theological work around contemporary interpretation of religious texts that might otherwise be seen to condone violent and controlling behaviour;
The importance of promoting gender equality, and avoiding language which may reinforce ideas about gender inequality;
The role of religious organisations in pre-marriage and post-marriage education;
The value of supporting people to intervene at the grassroots level – through active bystander training;
The role that religious organisations can play in educating communities about family violence, and in prevention work;
The role that young people could play in this area, in particular in combating the impacts of pornography and representations of violence on the internet and in the media;
The need for faiths to train religious leaders about recognising and responding to family violence, particularly those trained a long time ago who may not understand the dimensions of family violence;
The assistance that might be provided to people in religious organisations about where to refer people experiencing family violence, for example legal assistance and housing services;
The importance of working with mainstream agencies to increase their cultural competency so that they are better able to respond to family violence within particular communities;
The opportunity to draw on teachings about compassion, dignity and respect which are common to all faith traditions.

If you have any queries in relation to the Commission’s work, or wish to provide us with any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

We wish you well for your ongoing work in your own communities, as well as through the various multi- faith forums in which you participate.

Thank you again, and kind regards.
Mary Polis
Chief Executive Officer
PO Box 535 Flinders Lane VIC 8009
Ph: 03 8689 0524
mob: 0488 472 304
Email: mary DOT polis AT rcfv DOT com DOT au

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