Violence in the Family Violence Space: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Experiences of Research, Practice, and Alternative Justice

Abstract

This article examines Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences of working and researching in the family violence space, including mainstream services, Indigenous-specific organisations, universities, and alternative justice programs. Drawing on a narrative review of literature, it argues that violence in this field is not only an object of intervention but an institutional condition of labour. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers, particularly women, experience intensified harm through racialised and gendered labour expectations, unpaid cultural and care work, exposure to community trauma, and limited institutional protection. These conditions are compounded by epistemic violence, whereby Indigenous knowledge is extracted, marginalised, or instrumentalised within research, policy, and service systems. The article demonstrates how equity and inclusion frameworks often obscure rather than address these harms. It concludes that meaningful responses to family violence require Indigenous-led governance, recognition of institutional and epistemic violence, and a fundamental reordering of power, authority, and accountability within the field.