Quote   '-In fact, our constitution doesn’t allow us to work with male victims,"   But studies show that both males and females are victims of domestic violence? This is blatant sexism from the feminist quarter. When are these hateful gender bias and vindictive ideologist agencies going to stop putting the knife into the male species?For the sake of the children we need balance.   http://express- advocate- wyong.whereilive .com.au/news/ story/support- team-pulls- plug/ Domestic violence support team pulls plug NEWS  LOCAL NEWS 29 JAN 09 @ 07:20AM BY DENICE BARNES Kaye Spicer and Pat Gaunt talk to Chris Hartcher at the Gosford Court. Picture: PETER CLARK ABUSED and battered women brave enough to front Gosford Court could do so without help after the Central Coast domestic violence intervention response team handed back its State Government funding. The dramatic decision followed orders from the Community Services Department for the team to care for male victims of domestic violence at its women’s “safe room” at the courthouse. The order shocked long-time domestic violence volunteers Pat Gaunt and Kaye Spicer. The intervention response team has workers at Brisbane Water command police stations who contact victims as soon as possible to guide them through the court process. The service has successfully operated under the auspices of the domestic violence court assistance scheme for five years. But after “constant interference” by the department, the management committee unanimously voted to hand back responsibility and funding. “We are not prepared to compromise the integrity of our service by operating under the onerous and inappropriate conditions being imposed by the department,” Ms Spicer said. “In fact, our constitution doesn’t allow us to work with male victims,” Ms Gaunt said. “We have told the director-general we have to relinquish the funding because we cannot work with males and the constant interference by the department also has a lot to do with it,” Ms Spicer said. “I really don’t know what it means for the service.” Ms Gaunt said men were not neglected by the service, but referred to other agencies. “Our workers are not trained to work with men - some days we have more than 25 women in our safe room at Gosford. “Can you imagine how traumatised they would be to put a male in there? It is bureaucracy gone totally insane.” THE Central Coast domestic violence intervention team began in 2003 when the Premier’s Department asked the court assistance scheme to accommodate it to support women and children experiencing domestic violence who had come to the attention of Brisbane Water police. Funding was originally provided for two years for one worker but good results during the first 12 months saw more funding made available for a further part-time worker. In 2005 the funding responsibility was transferred from the Premier’s Department to the Community Services Department. The program has since received two police awards for its innovative service. An agreement was signed recently to run the service until 2012 but, before the ink was dry, the department sent a document outlining changes it wanted to the program. One significant change was the service was to work with men, a directive that would put the service in breach of funding it also received from Legal Aid. The team’s Kaye Spicer and Pat Gaunt said they tried to negotiate with the department but had hit a brick wall. In desperation, they turned to Terrigal State Liberal MP Chris Hartcher for help. A COMMUNITY Service Department spokeswoman said a decision about who would take over the service in the long term would be made as soon as possible. She said services would not be disrupted and the department worked extensively with the Central Coast domestic assistance scheme to resolve issues about its funding agreement.

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