Women’s Legal Services Australia says fathers take ‘extraordinary measures’ to reduce taxable income and support payments
Child support has become a “tool of violence” used to economically abuse women in Australia, new research has found.
Those paying child support are overwhelmingly men and some are coercing and controlling payees – mostly women – through avoiding payment.
Continue reading...Katy Gallagher says more aid for women escaping violence could come in form of increased rent assistance as sector struggles to recruit workers
Just 30 of the 500 frontline domestic violence workers promised by the Albanese government have been delivered so far, the minister for women, Katy Gallagher, says.
Gallagher, who is also the finance minister, revealed the difficulty recruiting workers in a pre-budget interview with ABC’s Insiders, suggesting that further help for women escaping violence could come in the form of increased rent assistance.
Continue reading...Police investigating after Brittany Lauga allegedly assaulted in central Queensland town of Yeppoon
Queensland Labor MP Brittany Lauga has alleged she was drugged and sexually assaulted in the central Queensland town of Yeppoon last weekend, and claims other women may also have been similarly attacked.
Lauga posted a statement on social media, saying she had contacted police early on the morning of Sunday 28 April.
Continue reading...The 28-year-old senior constable is facing five assault charges, three counts of stalking and two counts of harassment
A police officer has been suspended with pay while he waits to face court charged with domestic violence offences.
The 28-year-old senior constable was released on bail to face Picton local court on 16 May.
Continue reading...‘Leaving violence payment’ of $5,000 will help women escape abusive relationships with money for services, risk assessments and safety planning
Anthony Albanese has announced $925m to help victims of violence leave abusive relationships and a ban on deepfake pornography as new measures to combat violence against women.
After a national cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the prime minister announced the “leaving violence payment” of $5,000 to help meet the costs of leaving a relationship along with services, risk assessments and safety planning.
Continue reading...Protesters call for concrete action as prime minister agrees more needs to be done
An urgent national cabinet meeting on men’s violence against women will be convened for Wednesday, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, saying all governments nationwide – including his own at the federal level – must make changes and focus more on stopping perpetrators.
Albanese and senior ministers stopped short of announcing new violence prevention policies or funding as they supported a series of rallies nationwide this weekend, but the prime minister said public attitudes toward the scourge of abuse needed to shift. With the federal budget less than a fortnight away, those attending a large rally outside Parliament House urged the government to “walk the walk” and commit to concrete actions.
Continue reading...Officials say unidentified man killed influencer who had previously been imprisoned over dancing videos
A man on a motorbike has shot dead a social media influencer known as Om Fahad outside her Baghdad home, Iraqi security officials have said.
The unidentified attacker shot Om Fahad in her car in the Zayouna district on Friday, a security official said, requesting anonymity because he was not cleared to speak to the media.
Continue reading...Lydia Simon, recovered along with three children born in captivity, was one of 276 schoolgirls taken in 2014
Nigerian troops have rescued a pregnant woman and her three children 10 years after she was abducted by Boko Haram militants when she was a schoolgirl in the town of Chibok.
Lydia Simon was rescued in Gwoza council area, about 95 miles (150km) east of Chibok, from where 276 schoolgirls were seized in April 2014. As many as 82 are still missing a decade after the high-profile mass kidnapping.
Continue reading...Repealing ban would mean return of ‘one of the most pernicious forms of violence committed against women and children’
A team of UN experts has urged Gambian lawmakers not to repeal a ban on female genital mutilation, saying such a move would set a dangerous global precedent.
In a letter dated 8 April and made public on Thursday, the experts, led by Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said allowing the unchecked return of “one of the most pernicious forms of violence committed against women and children” would violate their right to freedom from torture.
Continue reading...Some police in England and Wales now ask spouses to flag dangerous traits or mental health problems
Survivors of gun crime committed by violent and coercive partners have worked with police to create a groundbreaking scheme designed to stop more dangerous offenders being allowed licensed firearms.
The women have helped police frame a questionnaire that firearms officers put to the partners of people wanting a licence that will flag up issues such as a propensity to violence or mental health problems.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Territory’s government calls for visit to listen to those thought to be living with consequences of forced fitting of IUDs
The Danish health minister should “get on a plane and visit” some of the thousands of women thought to be living with the consequences of being forcibly fitted with the contraceptive coil as children, Greenland’s gender equality minister has said.
In an attempt to reduce the population of the former Danish colony, at least 4,500 women and girls are believed to have undergone the medical procedure, usually without their consent or knowledge, at the hands of Danish doctors between 1966 and 1970 alone.
Continue reading...Former firearms officer’s history of alleged sexual offending dated back to 1995, 347-page report finds
Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer and three separate forces “could and should have” stopped him, a damning report by Lady Elish Angiolini has found.
The 51-year-old former firearms officer’s history of alleged sexual offending and predilection for violent and extreme pornography dated back to 1995, it said. Couzens allegedly sexually assaulted a child and attempted to kidnap a woman at knife-point in the years before he abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard on 3 March 2021.
Continue reading...Chancellor reportedly considering energy windfall levy as well as scrapping the non-dom status
The Conservative peer and former MP Stewart Jackson has also made the point about Rishi Sunak’s comments yesterday echoing what Suella Braverman has been saying. (See 9.25am.) He suggests Sunak is a weathercock, “buffeted by events”.
Rishi Sunak is now saying what #SuellaBraverman rightly said four months ago, and for which she was sacked. Tony Benn astutely divided politicians as between signposts and weathercocks. One can think ahead, the other is buffeted by events. We know which one is which, don’t we?
We commend the prime minister on his powerful speech at the CST dinner last night, pledging more funding to protect the Jewish community, outlining a new protocol to safeguard our elected representatives and effectively police protests, and drawing a clear line between democratic dissent and mob intimidation.
The last few months have seen an extreme rise in antisemitic hate in the UK, which has had a significant effect on British Jews. The prime minister’s announcement has made it clear - those bringing chaos to our streets and academic institutions will no longer be allowed to act with impunity.
Continue reading...Three women found with fatal knife wounds in brothel, while bodies of another woman and daughter discovered in apartment
Austrian authorities are investigating the killings of four women and a 13-year-old girl in Vienna within a day, including three found stabbed to death in a brothel.
The bodies of three young women were found with fatal knife wounds in a brothel in the Austrian capital’s Brigittenau district on Friday night after a witness alerted police.
Continue reading...Star tells audience at prestigious César awards that they need to challenge powerful and abusive men whatever the career risk
Judith Godrèche has urged the French film industry to break its omertà on sexual abuse in an unprecedented address to the country’s most prestigious awards ceremony on Friday evening.
Godrèche, who says she was groomed and raped as a teenager by an acclaimed director, received a standing ovation as she took the stage at the Césars – the French equivalent of the Oscars.
Continue reading...Experts report evidence of rape, sexual humiliation and threats of rape against girls and women
UN experts say they have seen “credible allegations” that Palestinian women and girls have been subjected to sexual assaults, including rape, while in Israeli detention, and are calling for a full investigation.
The panel of experts said there was evidence of a least two cases of rape, alongside other cases of sexual humiliation and threats of rape. Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said the true extent of sexual violence could be significantly higher.
Continue reading...Research is based on interviews with officials and first responders, media reports and ‘confidential sources’
The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel has said it has found evidence of “systematic and intentional” rape and sexual abuse during the Hamas attack on 7 October that ignited the war in Gaza.
The report said the attacks were more widespread than earlier thought, taking place at a series of locations across southern Israel. “In some cases, rape was conducted in front of an audience, such as partners, family or friends, to increase the pain and humiliation for all present.”
Continue reading...Prosecutors previously alleged Brian Earl Johnston, 37, tied up the mother-of-three before dousing her with petrol and setting her alight
The estranged husband of Kelly Wilkinson, who was doused in petrol and set alight, has pleaded guilty to her murder less than a month before his scheduled trial.
Brian Earl Johnston, 37, appeared before Brisbane supreme court on Wednesday via video link for arraignment on one count of murdering 27-year-old Wilkinson on 20 April 2021 in a Gold Coast backyard as a domestic violence offence.
Continue reading...Bucharest court upholds restriction on online influencer, who is charged with human trafficking and rape
A Romanian court has rejected an appeal by the online influencer Andrew Tate to ease judicial control measures imposed while the legal case continues in which he is charged with human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
The Bucharest court of appeal’s decision on Tuesday upheld a ruling by another court on 18 January that extended by 60 days the geographical restrictions against Tate, 37, stipulating that he cannot leave the country.
Continue reading...Man who stalked 23-year-old Melbourne woman pretended he was experiencing psychosis when he killed her, psychiatrist tells court
A man who stabbed a young woman to death repeatedly faked symptoms of psychosis while being assessed for a mental impairment defence, a court has heard.
Luay Sako, 39, told three psychiatrists there was a being called “Isha” who encouraged him to kill 23-year-old Celeste Manno in the early hours of 16 November 2020.
Continue reading...