Aboriginal women, 4, 46–47nn9–12

access to services, 28–29, 31, 273

context of violence, 28–30, 47n12

experiences of violence, 28, 47n11

responses to violence, 29–30

understandings of violence, 29–30

Access Economics, 3

access to the legal system, 4, 44

Altobelli, Tom, 205–206

Assafiri, Hana, 90, 126

Australia, 4–5, 9, 29, 31, 53, 101n4, 134, 151n5, 155, 211, 238, 254, 273

attitudes towards violence against women, 34

cost of domestic violence, 3

research studies, 16, 27, 149, 152n7, 241n9, 260–261n7

government, 3, 17n5, 18n9, 155, 200, 209, 238, 242n13

prevalence of domestic violence, 2–3, 45–46nn2–4

protection order legislation, 5

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2, 13, 45–46nn2–4

Australian Constitution, 156, 244

Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), 200, 244

B and B (1997), 203–205, 211, 241n8

Black women, 46n7

experiences of violence, 25

battered women, 8, 20, 48n19, 71–73, 148–149, 242n10

battered woman syndrome (BWS), 6, 18n6, 37, 227

shelters. See women’s refuges

who kill abusive partners, 5, 35, 47n13, 263

Behrens, Juliet, 203, 208

Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court, 65

special hearing room, 79–80

case law. See legal doctrine

Chaudhuri, Molly, 71, 103n15

child experts, 159, 218–223

attitudes to/understandings of violence, 220–221, 241n9

children, 3, 13, 21, 23–27, 30, 38, 47n11, 53, 55, 57, 61, 79, 90, 105n30, 117, 155, 157, 243, 260n5, 264–265, 269, 273

access to. See contact with

as witnesses, 136

best interests/welfare, 5, 136, 141–143, 158, 166, 186, 196n6, 198–206, 214, 219–220, 222, 229–230, 237, 245, 270, 272

child abuse, 21, 28, 159, 162, 166, 180, 195, 198, 233–234, 258, 271

contact with, 99, 121, 132, 152n7, 157, 163, 177, 180, 203–204, 217, 228–231, 235–236, 238, 246, 249–252, 255–256, 260n6, 265, 269