As many Goldfields locals wind down for Christmas, the region’s women’s refuge braces for busiest time

As many Goldfields locals begin to wind down for the festive season, domestic violence frontline workers at the region’s women’s refuge have been making preparations for their busiest time of year. Last December there were 170 family and domestic violence offences recorded by police in the Goldfields-Esperance region, the most recorded in a single month in 2023. That figure represents a shocking average of 38 assaults every week — five every day — but Goldfields Women’s Refuge chief executive Suzie Williams said police data captured only a fraction of the abuse taking place in the region. “There’s all these stresses that happen over Christmas that make life very difficult for people in bad relationships,” Ms Williams said. “There’s a lot of pressure on families over Christmas, not only economic pressures but also expectations from families about what the happy family should look like, and then you add alcohol to all that.” Ms Williams and her team at Finlayson House were bracing for their busiest Christmas yet as 2024 FDV rates remain on track to be the worst year on record. “We have seen a massive increase in family and domestic violence this year,” she said. “I stopped looking at the November figures about halfway through because they had doubled from last year, so I stopped frightening myself with that because we can’t help everyone,” she said. Commenting on the Goldfields-Esperance increase in FDV rates earlier this year, the region’s then-Acting Supt Adrian Vuleta said he believed more cases were being reported. “We remain committed to tackling the challenges associated with family violence,” he told the Kalgoorlie Miner. “While there may be several driving factors resulting in the increased number of offences being reported, we believe the efforts of our frontline officers in working with victim-survivors of family violence will continue to see more offences that were previously unreported being reported to police, including historical incidents.” Interacting with victim-survivors of domestic violence on a daily basis, Ms Williams said she did not believe higher rates were because of higher reporting. “If anything, we are getting more requests for help that come with the request not to tell the police,” she said. “They’re only a few steps away from severe physical harm, and they’re saying, ‘No, we don’t want to report, but we do want help to get out’. We’re seeing more of that.” Ms Williams said she believed the cost-of-living crisis and food insecurity were contributors to the high rates of domestic violence. She said the Finlayson House refuge would offer support to any woman, whether they would like to involve police or not. “There are some great initiatives out there for women who want to get away from their partners. The Escaping Violence Payment is a really good start for women with kids — it sets them up to move forward,” she said. “Even if women don’t want to report, I would like to encourage them to come and see us because we will help regardless. “If they think that their partner can change, we can also give them behavioural change programs.” 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)