New First Nations-led organisation to target hidden ‘scourge’ of family violence

National peak body will work with community-controlled organisations to address rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls

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A new national body to reduce rates of family and sexual violence toward Aboriginal women and children will launch in Canberra on Wednesday, after years of campaigning by Indigenous women's safety advocates.

First Nations women are seven times more likely to be killed and 27 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence than non-Indigenous women, and reducing rates of violence is a Closing the Gap target.