Author: Samantha O’Donnell (she/her)
Samantha is currently a PhD candidate in criminology at the University of Melbourne, researching precarious migration status, family violence and immigration law in Australia. She previously completed an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Oxford (Distinction) and a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) at the Australian National University. Samantha’s approach to research is informed by her experience as a lawyer and advocate for victim-survivors of financial abuse in the context of family violence at the Financial Rights Legal Centre.
Abstract: Migrant and refugee women whose migration status is precarious and who have experienced family violence may engage immigration law as a form of protection. As immigration law in Australia currently stands, there are two legal pathways that most clearly fit within this category. First, migrant women who have experienced family violence while in Australia and who are on a pathway to a permanent partner visa, can apply to remain in Australia through the family violence provisions as per the Migration Regulations (Cth) (1994). Second, refugee women who are at risk of experiencing family violence if returned from Australia to their country-of-origin can apply to remain in Australia under the refugee and complementary protection frameworks on the basis of family violence as per the Migration Act (Cth) (1958). Drawing on a textual analysis of 30 court and tribunal judgments, I examine the narratives that play out at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) with a focus on migrant and refugee women’s experiences when accessing these legal avenues. Within the AAT setting, I argue that migrant and refugee women must present as the ‘ideal victim’ of family violence and also as a ‘deserving’ migrant or refugee. As the AAT is a mechanism for the pronouncement of law, victimhood is thus discursively constituted in gendered and racialised terms.