Family First National Director and NSW Legislative Council candidate Lyle Shelton has called on the NSW Department of Education to revise Respectful Relationships Education material which frames domestic, family and sexual violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women through vague and ideologically loaded language about colonisation, privilege and "colonial patriarchy.".
Mr Shelton said no woman suffering violence should be given the impression that the person responsible is anything other than the perpetrator.
"Violence against women is not an abstract theory exercise," Mr Shelton said.
"It is not solved by telling victims that violence is principally the product of colonialism, systemic injustice, racial privilege or other broad social forces. The first duty of government, schools, police and the justice system must be to protect women and children from the person inflicting the violence."
NSW Department of Education guidance connected to Respectful Relationships Education says the impacts of domestic, family and sexual violence on Aboriginal peoples are "deeply rooted in the legacy of colonisation, dispossession and systemic injustice". It also describes higher rates of violence against Aboriginal women and girls as being driven by racism, sexism and the ongoing impacts of colonisation.
Mr Shelton said such language risked diverting attention from the immediate and preventable cause of violence: violent perpetrators.
"Of course history, disadvantage, trauma, addiction, family breakdown and poor service access can be relevant to prevention and recovery," Mr Shelton said.
"But none of those factors punches a woman, coerces her, sexually assaults her, stalks her or kills her. A perpetrator does that. We must be able to say so plainly."
"The danger of vague and confusing official language is that it blurs moral and legal responsibility. It can sound as though violence is something that simply happens because of social conditions, rather than something a person chooses to do to another person."
Mr Shelton said the material should not introduce racial baggage into lessons about protecting women from violence.
"Women deserve equal protection regardless of race, culture, religion, postcode or background. The message to every woman should be simple: if someone abuses you, it is not your fault; help is available; and the person hurting you is responsible for their actions."
"Likewise, the message to every boy and man should be clear: there is no cultural, historical, social or personal excuse for violence against women. You are responsible for your conduct."
National data show Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women suffer exceptionally high levels of violence. The Australian Institute of Criminology has reported that, over the period examined in its national homicide data, a large majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women killed by an intimate partner were killed by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander male partner. That reality requires honesty, strong victim protection, early intervention, effective policing and real perpetrator accountability-not evasive language.
Mr Shelton said Respectful Relationships Education should focus on practical, comprehensible and evidence-based messages:
- Violence and coercive control are wrong.
- Consent must be freely given and respected.
- Victims must be believed, protected and connected with support.
- Perpetrators must be identified, stopped and held accountable.
- Schools should teach respect without turning women's safety into a vehicle for contested racial or political ideology.
"Context can matter when designing services and prevention programs, particularly where communities face distinct challenges," Mr Shelton said.
"But context must never become an excuse, and it must never displace the central truth: women's safety comes first. The person committing the abuse-not history, not society, not an ideology-is responsible for it."
Mr Shelton called on the NSW Government to review its RRE guidance and ensure all material dealing with domestic, family and sexual violence uses direct language about perpetrator responsibility, victim safety and the need to reduce repeat offending.
"Every government program in this area should be judged by one standard: does it make women safer?" Mr Shelton said.
"If the answer is unclear, the policy language needs to change."
