Domestic violence has been at crisis levels in Alice Springs, with a 30 per cent spike in domestic assaults reported in the year to June. Experts say important work is being done to keep victim-survivors safe, but more focus is needed on breaking cycles of violence among perpetrators.
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00:00 For years, Nigel Button couldn't see a life outside of violence.
00:06 Just come straight out, straight onto the booth, doing the same thing again.
00:12 Until one day, he was referred to a men's behaviour change program.
00:16 There, he learnt to take responsibility for the violence he'd perpetrated, and find a path out of it.
00:23 Before, I didn't really thought I needed help, but now, doing this program, yeah, it's really good.
00:33 The NT has the highest rates of domestic, family and sexual violence in the country, and it's on the rise in Alice Springs.
00:41 But experts say they've seen very little funding or focus on supporting perpetrators to change.
00:48 The local men's behaviour change program is one of just two in the territory.
00:52 They say a lack of funding means they haven't been able to reach men where they're needed most, in prison and on remote communities.
01:00 And that's something that we'd definitely be saying needs to happen at some point. We know that.
01:06 Senior man Michael Little says more Aboriginal men also need to stand up and talk about domestic violence in places other men are frequenting.
01:15 These conversations need to be spoken about in pubs, in the streets, near the banks.
01:21 But as calls for more action continue, Nigel hopes to keep making a difference, one conversation at a time.
01:28 Even in the main streets, like, see the brother boys walking along with the avian, what you're doing, I'm doing, Tunganjara Men's Group.
01:37 A long path towards change.
01:39 change.
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