New First Nations-led organisation to target hidden ‘scourge’ of family violence

Incoming director of Our Ways Strong Together, Aunty Muriel Bamblett, said the Indigenous community-led organisation would bring together the lived experiences and expertise of First Nations people to prevent family, domestic and sexual violence and improve systemic responses to it. Photograph: AAP

A new national body to reduce rates of family and sexual violence towards Aboriginal women and children will launch in Canberra on Wednesday, after years of campaigning by Indigenous women’s safety advocates.

First Nations women are seven times more likely to be killed and 27 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence than non-Indigenous women, and reducing rates of violence is a Closing the Gap target.