What is family and domestic violence?

If you are in immediate danger dial 000

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What is family and domestic violence?

Family and domestic violence is common in Australia – in fact, one in four teenagers has seen physical violence by one parent towards another.

Family and domestic violence is different to family fights or arguments. In every family, it is natural to have disagreements with one another. However, when this happens all the time and one person abuses others by hitting, throwing things or threatening to harm them, it becomes family and domestic violence. This can be from your parents to each other, or towards you.

Why is this happening in my family?

Family and domestic violence can be very hard to understand because there is no one single reason why it happens - it is a combination of lots of things. Excuses are often used as a reason why one person abuses the other like ‘it’s your fault, you shouldn’t have done that’ or ‘you know I’m under a lot of pressure from work and you just keep putting more onto me until I snap’.

There are no excuses for being violent - it is wrong.

Danni’s story

"Mum gets very nervous before dad comes home. She acts all weird and keeps telling us to keep quiet and not upset dad. But it doesn’t matter what we do, even if everything is perfect he still finds something to pick on mum or us about.

One night he asked my sister how she was going at school. My sister got nervous and started stuttering when she tried to talk. Mum tried to help her by telling dad she wasn’t feeling well. Dad stood up and threw his glass across the room, which broke against the wall. Then he towered over us, yelling that we were all useless, especially mum, that it was all her fault, that she had raised us as weak and good for nothing. My sister and I were really scared, and mum started to cry, which made dad even madder so he yelled more … just a normal night in our house."