(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
Domestic violence can be a silent crime, with many victims too afraid to report their abusers.
But among refugees and migrants to Australia, there are many who don't even know the abuse is illegal -- or how they can escape this cycle of violence.
A community video is hoping to change that.
Ryan Emery reports.
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(Re-enactment of police knocking on door) "Good morning. Hi. We're here from your local police station. We've actually had a couple of calls about a domestic disturbance at your house. We just want to see, is everything okay?" (Actor:) "Everything's fine. You can see I'm with my wife here. Everything's fine."
At the police academy in Perth's northern suburb of Joondalup, a dramatisation is taking place for the video cameras.
Watching on is an Afghan refugee named Roia.
(Actor:) "We're fine. I don't know why you need to come in." (Police:) "Just duty of care. We're just doing our job. Just need to have a chat with you guys, just a normal chat. That's it." (Actor:) "I mean, if you have to, but we're fine. You can see us, we're fine. There's no problem."
When Roia was suffering at the hands of her husband for six years in Perth, the police never came to her door, never had a chat with her husband.
It never happened because she did not know they could help -- or would.
The mother of four only met the police in hospital after her husband had set her on fire while she was carrying their eight month old daughter.
"It's funny, because I lived here for almost six years with him. I had no idea that there was such a thing as Family Court. I had no idea that the police actually get involved in domestic issues, that, what he was doing to me, police actually cared about it. Or anybody else. Because, in my head, I thought, 'Everybody knows what he's doing to me and my children, and they are okay with it.' So, if I knew that there were actually support agencies that I could take my children to and I can leave and live a safe life, I would not have stayed in that marriage, I think, for another second."
Her husband was jailed for the attack.
Roia had been 14 years old when she came to Perth.
After her marriage and the four children, she knew little about the outside world besides caring for her children and violent husband.
She believed he had all the power -- until the police and social workers gave her back her rights.
"For me, it was a relief as well as a miracle, because I lived in this country for six years and we went through horrible, horrible things, and, all this time, I thought nobody cared. So that day when that police officer came, and she sat down and she explained to me what a violence restraining order is and how I can apply for it, and what Family Court is and what it does, and how I can get orders to remove my kids, it was like a shock for me. And I was like, 'Oh, my God!' I lived her for six years, and I had no idea about such things."
Roia's story is not so rare among migrants to Australia.
So the Northern Suburbs Community Legal Centre and West Australian police have decided it will take more than pamphlets and a website to get the message out.
They have begun filming a video to show how police respond to domestic violence, that it is against the law, how victims can get help, and agencies that will support them.
"Okay, one more time. Don't say, 'So-so.' Just say, 'So what happened?' So think of a narrative -- 'So, what happens if we get charged with an offence?' Okay, and then you can feel free to move a little bit, like you're concerned as well."
The video, although it will be translated into various languages, will be a visual aid for people whose English skills are poor.
Scott Johnson, from the Northern Suburbs Community Legal Centre, is the video's director.
"Sometimes, we see cases where people have been living for years under this domestic violence and they're not doing anything about it, so we want to get that information out there so that they know how to deal with it. Our office is one, for example, where we will take cases ... victims can come to us, we will get violence restraining orders, we'll refer them on to other family-violence services that can help them get through it."
Inspector Don Emanuel-Smith of the West Australian police says the video will educate victims as well as the offenders.
"It's not to be tolerated in any family situation, no matter culture, or religion or what nationality you are. So the idea of creating the video is to bring forward that education and awareness to these people so they can see it in a simplistic form, see the rights and wrongs that they are confronting."
The video will be released early next year on DVD and online.
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