Whittlesea CALD Communities Family Violence Research Report 2012 | Page 27

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The responses to these questions indicated that the women shared similar fears when it came to
disclosing family violence and encountered many of the same ‘barriers’ to accessing assistance and
services including:
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Fear of deportation and loss of visa status (particularly for women on spousal or fiancé visas);
Lack of information about family violence, legal rights and the availability of support services as
well as how and where to access them;
Difficulty getting information and communicating with services due to limited English language
proficiency;
Practical difficulties associated with finding housing and financial support;
Fear of isolation from the community, shame and stigma associated with separation and
divorce.

The women who arrived in Australia on partner visas34 spoke of their fears that disclosure of family
violence would affect their ability to remain in Australia and a number of women said that their
partners used threats of deportation as a means to control them and prevent them from disclosing
family violence.
‘Initially my husband used threats to deport me back to my [country of origin] if I disagreed with him
and initially I was frightened but after a while I stopped believing the threats.’
The women also stated that the way in which Centrelink payments are structured (for example the
fact that it is the resident partner not the sponsored partner who is eligible to receive payments)
gave the resident partner an enormous amount of power and control in the relationship.
Inability to access Centrelink payments also had flow on effects for women trying to find housing and
financial support where the relationship had broken down or they had made the decision to leave a
family violence situation. The women spoke of encountering a number of practical difficulties when
leaving a family violence situation including finding affordable and appropriate housing, accessing
financial support for themselves and their children, knowing where to get assistance, filling out
forms, being able to transport themselves to appointments and finding childcare. These practical
difficulties were compounded for women without permanent residency.
‘I am struggling financially because the rent is very expensive and I am on a spousal visa and cannot
receive income from Centrelink to support myself and my child. My husband and I have ?????????)???????????????????e?
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