This story contains references to domestic violence.
The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, which is holding hearings in Hobart this week, has heard of the challenges facing women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
One of those women is Esther Simbi, who contracted poliomyelitis as a young child living in South Sudan.
Thanks to her mother’s help and dedication, Esther was able to walk again, but now as an adult, she still struggles with a weak lower back and left leg, and a deformed right foot.
Esther is unsure of her exact age. She was born in a village without a birth certificate. In 1987, she fled the civil war in South Sudan with her mother and her siblings. They lived in three different refugee camps in Uganda, before coming to Australia in 2005.
She told on Tuesday of her experiences while in what she termed an emotionally abusive marriage.
“I'm sitting here today to share my story, and I’m also sitting here today on behalf of other CALD communities,” she said.
“Those are women from non-English speaking backgrounds, that have no voice and who are yet to find their voice.”
She met her ex-husband in Australia, who was also from the South Sudanese community; they started a friendship and later got married.
“It comes down to the cultural belief where people believe that when you have a disability, you’re not capable of making your own decisions,” she said.
"You’re not capable of doing anything, and decisions were made for me.
"For women in my culture, and in other CALD cultures women don't have a voice, it's hard for a woman who is experiencing abuse to come out and report [family violence]," she said.
"In my own culture, children belong to men, so if a woman is experiencing domestic violence, that woman will not be able to report that abuse because of the fear of losing her children.
"People in the CALD communities need proper education so that they can understand, so they can recognise what abuse looks like, and who to report it to."
Taya Ketelaar-Jones is a solicitor at the Tasmanian Refugee Legal Service (TRLS) and heads up a program called the Family Violence Migration Service (FVMS), which helps people on temporary visas access legal assistance.
She also gave evidence to the royal commission on Tuesday.
“The FVMS has been running for around a year now, it was launched to fill a pre-existing service gap that was in Tasmania,” she said.
The service received funding for one year, but that grant has now run out. The service is currently looking at other funding options.
Ms Ketelaar-Jones told the royal commission that there are special provisions in the migration regulations for people experiencing family violence, that allow someone to be granted their permanent partner visa, even if the relationship has broken down — if they can prove they have experienced family violence.
“[But] those provisions only apply to a very limited group of subclasses of visa,” Ms Ketelaar-Jones said.
For example, people on student visas and prospective marriage visas cannot access the provisions.
Ms Ketelaar-Jones said people seeking help from the FVMS come from a diverse range of cultural, languages and socioeconomic backgrounds. So far, only one man has accessed the service and the rest of her clients have all been women.
She said CALD women with disabilities face a number of barriers when trying to access support, and many of them have no idea of their migration status.
“If you have a language barrier that then is coupled with a sensory impairment, the ability to communicate is severely restrained when you're trying to rely on both an interpreter, but also English as a second language," she said.
Ms Ketelaar-Jones also said the legal process for accessing the special family violence visa provisions is complicated.
"So the reports that come back are quite distressing in content for the client to read," Ms Ketelaar-Jones said.
"Generally speaking, it’s my opinion that the independent assessors adopt highly critical statements of their assessment of the client.
"The majority have commented on reliability of the applicant, they have asserted that the applicant has essentially falsified evidence in their claims in an attempt to stay in Australia.
"They have simply not believed what she's said."
An appeal of the decision also has a filing fee of $3,000.
Ms Ketelaar-Jones said many of her clients have a psychosocial disability, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression. But she’s also represented clients with mobile, sensory and physical disabilities. A majority of her clients are also post-separation.
She finished her evidence by telling the royal commission that support services needed to be simplified and streamlined for CALD people with disabilities experiencing family violence.
“I don't have an ideal solution, but I think something that integrates the various different silos that have been set up,” she said.
“I think we often have women presenting who will be put into the CALD box and that's the service that they will have access to. Or they will be put into the family violence-victim box or they will be put into the disability box and none of those interact and none of those meet the complex needs that come from falling into all of those.”
If you or someone you know is impacted by family and domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit
. In an emergency, call 000. The Men’s Referral Service provides advice for men on domestic violence and can be contacted on 1300 766 491.
