Women's Psychological Health

21/04/2026

If you are unsure if you are in an abusive relationship, this wheel will help you identify behaviours and patterns of abuse. Not all tactics are used by all perpetrators. Often a few are used at the beginning with increasing abusive behaviours occurring with time. If you are experiencing all or most of these abusive behaviours, then you are in a very dangerous situation, please seek help immediately.

If you’ve ever thought, “Is it really abuse if it’s not physical?” this might change everything. 🧩

Many survivors say the first time they saw the Power and Control Wheel, what they were living through finally made sense. It lays out the common tactics abusers use to gain and keep dominance—like isolating someone, minimizing harm, twisting reality, or making big promises that “it’ll never happen again.”

What felt confusing or deeply personal starts to look like a pattern—and that realization can be both heartbreaking and empowering. It’s not a misunderstanding. It’s a system built around control.

Have you ever seen a resource that put words to something you couldn’t explain before? Share in the comments—or pass this along to someone who might need it. 💜

🔗 https://zpr.io/4yPAKQMmbsz5

20/04/2026

Child support as a weapon of domestic violence has been one of society's most ignored form of abuse. This is not just partner abuse but also child abuse. Women and children in post separated families live in financial hardship trying to make ends meet with these children missing out because the system is not just. Children lose crucial time with their mothers while she tries to work and put a room over her children's head and food on the table. The despair for both mother and child in these situations is heartbreaking. All whilst fathers who are using child support as a form of domestic abuse lives in lavish houses and affords extravagant holidays. The Child support service is one of the most outdated family system in Australia. 😢

When child support is avoided, the financial burden doesn’t disappear - it shifts.

Child support is meant to help support children after separation.

It’s calculated based on:
• Both parents’ income
• How much time the child spends with each parent

In Australia, the child support system is administered by Services Australia - but for many families, the system isn’t working as intended.

Some parents deliberately reduce what they pay by:
• Hiding or minimising income
• Not lodging tax returns
• Moving money through businesses or family
• Working cash-in-hand

👉 And this doesn’t happen in isolation.

In Australia, 1 in 4 women have experienced violence by an intimate partner*.
At the same time, 83% of single-parent families are led by mothers*.

This means when child support isn’t paid or is manipulated, it’s most often women and children who carry the impact.

Research from Women’s Legal Services Australia shows that financial abuse is present in the majority of domestic and family violence cases, and that child support can be used as a tool of post-separation control.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman report Weaponising Child Support highlights that:
• Women are overwhelmingly the primary carers and recipients of child support
• Many experience non-payment, underpayment, or manipulation of income
• Systems can be slow, complex, and difficult to enforce - leaving families without support

For many victim-survivors of domestic and family violence, this behaviour is a continuation of control after separation.

We need:
✔️Stronger enforcement
✔️Reform that removes the link between child support and the calculation of Family Tax Benefit
✔️Reform that centres women and children
✔️Regular and consistent training for all professionals in the system on family violence and economic and financial abuse

Because safety should never come at the cost of financial security.
📎Learn more:

Read the WLSA Child Support Literature Review: https://wlsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Womens-Legal-Services-Australia-Child-Support-Literature-Review-May-2024.pdf?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExTTA5WWJwSU1zU2dUcm5KUHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4Y17RgMQljEZQZL6Wi48ZcDMQyDd7uIGE9_u49Ev5lVkCQVCE5uYM0Odl44g_aem_Fnz###rxdSCamukjU-mkPg

Read the full Ombudsman report here – ‘Weaponising Child Support: when the system fails families’: https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/318460/Weaponising-Child-Support-when-the-system-fails-families.pdf?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExTTA5WWJwSU1zU2dUcm5KUHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR5OPbhndKUCMVRg9SvF_noFvOripVVDdZfms6xaYrQRUBnQNB1ZR_WxJzYq-g_aem_wikIrnwnZ5Ocbyvqyu3cUg

Need support?

🚨 In immediate danger? Call 000
📱 DVConnect (24/7): 1800 811 811
📱 1800RESPECT (24/7): 1800 737 732
📱 13YARN (24/7): 13 92 76 (for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)
⚖️ Free DFV legal help – WLSQ’s Statewide Helpline: 1800 957 957 (Mon–Fri 9 AM–4:30 PM

Sources:
* Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW): https://www.aihw.gov.au/family-domestic-and-sexual-violence/types-of-violence/intimate-partner-violence

19/04/2026

Children and young people experiencing domestic and family violence are not just “witnesses” to harm – they are victim-survivors, with impacts that can last a lifetime.

Without targeted support, exposure to violence can shape a child’s development, mental health, learning, relationships and safety well into adulthood.

The Specialist Workers for Children and Young People program provides early, trauma-informed and age-appropriate support to help children and young people begin to heal while they are still in crisis situations, including when staying in refuge with a parent.

This work is not optional or “extra”. It is a core part of preventing lifelong harm and breaking cycles of violence.

If we want real change, we must invest in tailored support and recovery for children and young people.

20/03/2026

A documentary worth watching for any parent with teenage boys. Definitely highlights the problem around the definition of what it means to be a man. The need for power and control over women is certainly visible.

18/03/2026

Very excited to be attending ANZAED's summer conference focusing on Binge Eating Disorder learning the latest information on medical assisted weight loss for those with BED. 🤓

08/03/2026

Belated post...
Happy International Women's Day to all the remarkable women who face challenges often unrecognised unspoken and unappreciated in their everyday day lives whether this be grief, infertility, chronic pain, trauma, abuse, self worth or body image issues and the burdeon of parenting and the household load. I see you, I hear you, I acknowledge you. I understand. You are an inspiration! 🌸💐💕

17/02/2026

I couldn't agree more. I too feel like the word "domestic" waters down the seriousness of the violence. I also feel like the phrase "coercive control" distracts from the seriousness of the abuse!

Dr Vincent Hurley's 2024 appearance on Q+A was watched by millions. He was angry.

Thirty-two women had been violently killed in the first 119 days of the year.

"For God's sake, how long do we have to listen to politicians like you … high-horsing about?"

Behind Dr Hurley's emotional address were nearly 30 years as a police officer on the frontline of family and domestic violence.

When he started in the 1980s, on his beat, responding to gender-based violence felt endless.

"It would've been 80 per cent of police work," he told ABC Conversations.

"It was just domestic after domestic, after domestic."

Attending these incidents, Dr Hurley was shot at, punched to the ground and had a young girl die in his arms.

"What a waste of a human life," he said.

"All the hundreds of thousands of victims throughout Australia … their true potential in society will never be known.

"Because they are coerced and controlled by some sh****ad male."

Now an academic, Dr Hurley teaches criminology at Macquarie University. He also speaks at high schools about healthy relationships and the rates of violence against women and teenage girls.

He's noticed a worrying view among some school students.

"They see domestic violence as a bit of a private crime … a private argument between Mum and Dad or Mum and a partner," Dr Hurley said.

Dr Hurley believes the term domestic violence softens the crime and sends the wrong message to young people.

“It doesn't bring home the brutality or the maleness in the crime,” he said.

"If I had my way, I would remove the word 'domestic' from that phrase, 'domestic violence' … and just have straight out 'violence against women and girls' — because that's exactly what it is.

"It doesn't matter if it occurs at home. It doesn't matter if it occurs in the shopping centre, down the street or at the footy ground. It's just straight-out violence."

✍️ Story by Fiona Purcell

🎧 Stream Vince Hurley's ABC Conversations interview on the ABC listen app.

If you or anyone you know needs help:

1800 RESPECT national helpline: 1800 737 732
Lifeline (24-hour crisis line): 131 114
Relationships Australia: 1300 364 277
Men's Referral Service: 1300 766 491rie

16/02/2026

The system doesn't work! Child support system needs an overhaul. Too many mothers and children living in financial hardship with an abusive ex partner who can manipulate the system easily! 😞

20/01/2026

This is very important new legislation that has the potential to keep woman safer quicker and without the legal battle of needing to go to court. Please share and make woman in Queensland know this is now possible

📣New Domestic and family violence (DFV) laws have started in Queensland.

The Queensland Parliament passed new legislation to introduce Police Protection Directions (PPDs) in Queensland to support the safety of victim-survivors and hold people using violence to account.

As of 1 January 2026, PPDs are available across Queensland as an additional tool for frontline police responding to DFV.

PPDs are a 12-month direction that can be immediately issued by police in circumstances where police reasonably believe it is appropriate for the matter not to proceed to a court.

You can find more information at www.qld.gov.au/PoliceProtectionDirections

[Image description: Graphic Text on white background "New DFV laws in Queensland", text in blue ground "Find out about PPDs", Delivering for Queensland with Queensland Government crest logo]

19/01/2026

Entering or returning to work can be a very anxious time for woman particularly if you have lost your confidence due to being out of the workforce for a significant amount of time , or due to the impact of domestic violence. Sometimes you don't even know where to start! This course may be a helpful stepping stone in getting you ready for your next employment opportunity. Good luck!

Secure and flexible employment can be a crucial step toward achieving independence and safety.

We’re sharing information about FW - Future Women ’s Jobs Academy, a free, year-long online program designed to support women who are returning to work, changing careers or building new skills.

The program is funded by the Australian Government Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Office for Women and the Queensland Government.

The program offers:

✅Flexible, self-paced online learning

✅Expert coaching and practical career support

✅Guidance from employers and industry professionals

Whether you’re rebuilding after experiencing domestic and family violence, juggling caring responsibilities or starting fresh, this program aims to meet women where they are.

Applications close Tuesday, 27 January 2026

Learn more and apply here: https://pulse.ly/te7molurwt

19/01/2026

It is a sad day in Cairns with another woman's life taken due to domestic violence. 😔

01/01/2026

2026 starts off with some good news! I believe this is an important step in the protection of women and breaking down barriers of much needed safety. Let's hope it's enforced!

New domestic violence laws started 1 January 2026 in Queensland.
Police now have the power to issue on-the-spot Domestic Violence Protection Orders, called Police Protection Directions (PPDs).

PPDs are made without a court application and stay in place for 12 months. They can include conditions like no contact, leaving a shared home, staying away from certain places, and cooling-off periods.

PPDs cannot be issued in certain situations, including where there is an existing protection order is in place.

If someone breaches a PPD, it is a criminal offence.

If you’re served with a PPD or have questions about what these changes mean, seek legal advice immediately.

To learn more, read our factsheet: https://pulse.ly/gulnd95bij

If this raises issues for you, support is available:
📞 13YARN (24/7): 13 92 76
🚨 In immediate danger? Call 000
📞 PoliceLink QLD: 131 444
📱 DVConnect (24/7): 1800 811 811
📱 1800RESPECT (24/7): 1800 737 732
⚖️ Free legal DFV help – WLSQ: 1800 857 857 (Mon–Fri 9 AM – 4:30 PM)