News by Jessica Marszalek, Michael Wray 4th Feb 2021 5:06 AM
Premium Content Bikies will be incentivised to ditch their colours by getting help to get a real job, counselling and drug rehabilitation in a bid by police to further dismantle outlaw motorcycle gangs in Queensland. The program s launch today comes after 50 Queensland ex-bikies described how those who left or were kicked out of clubs were threatened, intimidated, bashed and financially crippled - with some too afraid of being killed to leave on their own. Police hope the valuable insights can be used to further dismantle criminal networks. At the same time, the government is battling a youth crime crisis and police have come under fire in coronial inquests for failing to act on domestic violence risk factors in cases involving violent men.
News by Sarah Sharples 2nd Feb 2021 5:24 AM One in four Aussies have fallen victim to identity fraud, with the misuse of their personal information costing them $300 on average. Victims also spend $80 and 34 hours dealing with the fallout of the fraud, research from comparison website Finder found. The types of personal information most at risk include someone s name, credit card details, bank account information, address and date of birth. But hackers are leaning on artificial intelligence more than ever to scam information, said Taylor Blackburn, personal finance specialist at Finder, with a common phone changeover an easy hack used by criminals.
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The death of a child at the hands of the person they love more than anyone is an incomprehensible tragedy, but research increasingly points to perpetrators seeking help ahead of the event and falling through the cracks.
After a suspected murder-suicide which left a Melbourne mother and three young children dead this week, experts in the field have warned of a lack of support for those at risk of such a crime and a misguided optimism among their family and friends that such a thing could never happen.
A woman drops flowers while in tears in front of the house where the bodies of the three children and their mother were found.
The research found most women who use force are themselves victim-survivors of domestic and family violence and childhood abuse. Motivations for the use of force by women most commonly include self-defence, retaliation, anger and stress.
The Australian Institute of Criminology researcher Hayley Boxall said the findings show women who have been reported for domestic and family violence behaviours were often responding to threatened or actual abuse.
“However, this threat may not be immediately obvious, like a family member or partner raising their fist in your face,” Boxall said. “Instead, it could be a look, a glance, a tone of voice that can set someone on edge, trigger a fight or flight response and make them likely to strike out. Critically, women’s threat perceptions are not only affected by violence that may already be happening within their relationships, but also prior experiences of abuse.”
Marica Ristic is in the business of saving lives.
She’s not an emergency department doctor or nurse, but a domestic and family violence support worker in Queensland on the frontline of another deadly crisis that swept through the world this year.
“Whatever normal was considered to be, we had to put that on hold and put the woman and their needs in the centre of our response,” she said.
“Those women who were able to seek support, the complexity of their needs was very much visible and we were able to directly connect it to COVID-19.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has labelled domestic violence a “shadow pandemic”, exacerbated by COVID-19 - and Australia has been no exception.