Carrie's Place: Domestic violence a tough burden

Layers of paint can’t hide the rotted timbers apparent in too many places. A small covered deck gives the appearance of a building able to withstand the elements for many years to come, and heavy use by the people who work there and use its services, but looks are deceiving.

Carrie’s Place Domestic Violence and Homelessness Services, which started 40 years ago as a service for women and children escaping domestic violence, is bursting at the seams in a building that’s struggling to keep up.

And the demand for services – whether from domestic violence victims or homeless men and women seeking shelter – is growing, and at a rate significantly higher than anticipated under the NSW Government’s 2014 Going Home Staying Home reforms.

Carrie’s Place was funded for one arm of its work based on receiving and responding to an expected 2400 calls from women experiencing domestic violence in the Upper and Central Hunter by July. The actual figure it has responded to so far is 3500 calls.

Women at serious threat of violence - where they’ve advised police, among other things, that their partner has threatened to kill them, strangle them, has threatened or used a weapon, has harmed or killed a family pet or controlled access to money – must be contacted by Carrie’s Place staff within 24 hours of police sending a referral.

About 20 per cent of the 3500 calls so far have fallen within the “serious threat” category.

“It wasn’t really a surprise when the figures came in,” says Carrie’s Place chief executive Jan McDonald, who is also chair of Domestic Violence NSW.

The surprise was the relative community silence that followed the release of NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures showing a 33 per cent increase in domestic violence crimes in the Maitland local government area in 2015.

“If any other crime had a 33 per cent increase in one year there’d be an outcry, but there was little in the way of a community response to that figure, which is a real concern,” McDonald says.

Maitland man Joe Gollan responded.

His grandmother Angela Gollan, who died in September, was a huge influence on his life and a strong supporter of women’s services, Mr Gollan said. He was also deeply affected by the manslaughter of Marika Ninness in an East Maitland carpark in December 2013 after she was punched by boyfriend Ross Merrick.

“I thought to myself, maybe I could put my foot in the dear at Carrie’s Place and see if there’s anything I can do to help,” Gollan says.

The result of that decision is The Big Gig variety night and fundraiser at Maitland Town Hall on September 3.