@Antiseptic - You were quite derisive re my comments about the review teams who will look over last cases. Again, you just show your ignorance. This was suggested firstly by I think, Victoria. Only a couple of yrs ago, NSW didn't support the notion. It is not the usual looking over 'cold cases'. This review team involves the NSW State Coroners Office, the NSW Police Service and other bodies. It will examine the deaths of women, even those that at the time seemed to be suicide etc and do in depth research to see if, there was a history of DV; DV reporting, and/or if action/s could've prevented these deaths.

It should also be kept in mind the vulnerability women are in while pregnant. My ex assaulted me while pregnant with my 2nd child,and when my 3rd was born he came to visit me while drunk and became angry when I wouldn't allow him to maul me. He later rang to apologise, but I was devastated! I'd been ill prior to this baby's birth with pre-eclampsia, which could have resulted in the death of both of us! I'd spent the last 6 weeks in and out of bed, and trying to care for my other two chn.

"Pregnant Women
The 1996 ABS Women's Safety Survey and the 2005 Personal Safety Survey found that pregnancy is a time when women may be vulnerable to abuse. Of those women who experienced violence by a previous partner, 701 200 had been pregnant at some time during their relationship. While 42 per cent of these women experienced violence during the pregnancy (292 100), 20 per cent experienced domestic violence for the first time while they were pregnant. In the 2005 Personal Safety Survey, 59 per cent (667 900) of women who experienced violence by a previous partner were pregnant at some time during the relationship; of these, 36 per cent (239 800) reported that violence occurred during a pregnancy and 17 per cent (112 000) experienced violence for the first time when they were pregnant."

(cont)

Antiseptic - perhaps you and your mates will at last agree, that there are many areas of abuse, where women and girls are the victims. I'm not trying to engage in a "pissing contest"? but revealing the truth.Truths that are borne out in many surveys and reports.

@benk@Antiseptic - It is ludicrous to suggest, that the only reason every State & TErritory are focusing on DV and providing programs/monies etc is to buy votes. Fact is, that even in the latest survey carried out by Vic Health,there are still too many people who believe that there can be excuses for men abusing their wives/partners; that men can't 'stop' once intercourse has commenced, and still too many others believe, that women at best exaggerate claims of abuse. Why politicians would want to spend millions on an issue that is neither 'sexy' or upbeat is beyond me. The fact is, that they are taking these steps to protect vulnerable people, and also because this year, the cost to the economy/country has been assessed at $13 BILLION. It just makes economic sense to use any methods to try and bring this situation to its finality.

Now, for the umpteemth time I'll say, that I condemn all violence; but the fact remains,that women are at most risk of violence at home, while men are out in public view; that more girls/women experience sexual abuse from an early age, and that the greatest risk to the health and safety of women is by their intimate partners.
You can scream, kick, demean me, call me names, or do whatever, I really don't give a toss, but the realities remain the same! Do some real research instead of 'cherry picking' overseas articles usually written by misogynists like yourselves!

How many of you have approached your local Police Command? How many of you have started support group/s for men in your position? I recall going to meetings over 30 yrs ago. Women's refuges have a waiting list, as do those requiring counselling.the work goes on! Do something instead of whining!

@Liz45, you keep on pointing to ABS surveys but you don't tell people that these were results driven studies commissioned by the Office for Status of Women. Let me tell you because you don't seem to understand very much of what I say, that even senior women within the ABS were very concerned at the time at the way the 1996 survey was done in accordance with what the OSW wanted. As far as I am concerned you can throw that survey or any other survey commissioned by the OSW out the window because such studies are not designed to reveal the balanced(triple underline)truth.

If you are looking for the balanced truth may I recommend to you a study of far greater academic merit; a survey by Bruce Heady and Dorothy Scott of Melbourne Uni and David De Vaus of La Trobe Uni. That was a survey of 1643 persons and found that men are assaulted more frequently than women in domestic situations. I am very surprised you have not heard of it and if you have you would be the premier "cherry picker".

Helping to put Liz45's claptrap into perspective; Woman Beats Boyfriend: What Would You Do?

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Video/videoLogin?id=2754248

Another example of why a gender based approach to domestic violence is not appropriate.

Liz

If you won't accept all of the research and anecdotal evidence, there is nothing more that we can add.

Even if we did accept (hypothetically speaking) that men were responsible for over 50% of DV, it still doesn't follow that, when we hear of a case of DV, we should assume that he is the aggressor and she is the victim.

Certain racial groups, such as Aborigines are more likely to be convicted for crimes of violence. By your logic, whenever an Aboriginal person gets in a fight with a non-Aboriginal person, we can assume that the Aborigine is at fault and any other explanation is 'blaming the victim.' I am quite sure that you wouldn't think about any racial group in this way. Why is it OK to discuss men, as though any violence we are involved in must be our fault?

To all who question my stats! This
NCAS_Community Attitudes_report_2010.ashx.pdf
(very sml except)
The prevalence of violence
against women
Violence against women cuts across
the boundaries of culture, race, class,
geography and religion. There is no region
of the world, no country and no culture
in which women live free from violence.
While both women and men can be
perpetrators and / or victims of violence
and sexual assault, research consistently
shows that the overwhelming majority
of violence and abuse against women
in intimate relationships is perpetrated
by men whom women know and often
in homes or environments they share
(ABS 2006b).2
Reliable estimates drawn
from the 2005 Personal Safety Survey, the
largest and most methodologically sound
population-based research in Australia,
suggest that one in three women (33
percent) have experienced physical
violence since the age of 15 and around
one in six adult women (16 percent) have
experienced actual or threatened physical or sexual violence by a partner since the age of 15. Nearly one in five women have also indicated that they have been exposed to sexual assault since the age of15 (ABS 2007; ABS 2006b).
The human and economic
costs of violence
Evidence of the damage to women caused
by violence is well established. This
impact extends across women’s physical,
mental, reproductive and sexual health
(WHO 2002).
For some women, the consequences of
violence can be fatal. In Australia intimate
partner homicides account for one-fifth of
all homicides, and four out of five involve
a man killing his female partner (Davies
and Mouzos 2007). Women are more
likely to be killed by current or former
partners than by anyone else (Morgan
2002; Mouzos and Rushforth 2003).