news, local-news, dubbo, crime, domestic violence, lunn field, nguumambiny indigenous corporation

GENDER needs to be removed from the conversation when it comes to domestic violence, Dubbo campaigner Lynn Field said. The chief executive officer of Nguumambiny Indigenous Corporation works with male and female victims of domestic violence, and welcomed a new state government video campaign featuring a female perpetrator and a male victim, among others. "It's good when you stop and look at it that they are actually acknowledging that males can be victims but there is more to be done," Ms Field said. "The reality is 12 people have died in domestic violence [related incidents in 2016] and eight of them have been men. "Men are dying at the rate of two to one, but we show only show one male victim out of half a dozen or eight females." The video campaign, It's not your fault, was launched last week by Deputy Premier, Police Minister and Dubbo MP Troy Grant. The launch coincided with the statewide rollout of a new process targeting repeat domestic violence offenders. "It's great but once again is it going to cover female perpetrators?" Ms Field said. "It's alright extending it but are you going to achieve anything if you're not being realistic about the results?" Ms Field said society needed to remove the stereotypes around domestic and family violence, which were prohibiting male victims from getting help. Last year Ms Field told the Daily Liberal of a client who, after ringing the 1800 RESPECT telephone counselling service, was referred to a men's line and given a behavioural modification plan. "We need to have resources available for men and women," Ms Field said. "When a woman hurts a man or her kid, it's always 'what did he do? He must have pushed her'. But when a man does it it's 'coldblooded murder'. "These guys today cop a lot of mental abuse, psychological abuse, a lot of emotional blackmail and it needs to be put out there." She said the "genderising" of the issue needed to stop. "It doesn't matter if your a woman or a man," she said. "Violence in the family needs to stop. "End of story."

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