Eliminating All Forms of Violence Against Women and Girls

PRIORITIES

1. Commitment to increased ongoing funding to provide certainty and ensure sustainability, reliability and quality of domestic violence and women’s refuge services across the nation through relevant national partnership agreements and transparency in program funding allocations and expenditure year on year.

2. Establishing systems for data collection, monitoring and assessing progress in implementing the National Plan and yearly Action Plans through ANROWS, AIHW, AIC, and NCIS, as relevant, with additional funding to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for creating the appropriate nationally consistent data platforms.

3. Facilitating the exchange of state and territory information through the establishment of a Prevention Innovation Fund to determine the most effective approaches and programs for multi-agency service delivery for the prevention of violence and supporting women and children.

4. Adopting a national regulatory approach to concentrations of liquor outlets in areas where it can be demonstrated from police reports that such concentrations and ready availability at all hours contributes to Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence.

5. A national ban on all gambling advertising in mainstream media.

6. Establishing a “fee free” funded program for nationally accredited staff training and development in order to ensure workforce capability and expand workforce capacity across the specialist domestic violence sector and other sectors whose staff deal with families and individuals affected by DFSV.

RATIONALE

The National Plan to end Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 was endorsed by all Australian governments and released in October 2022. It is promoted as the blueprint to end domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV). Its vision is to end this violence in a generation. There are two five year Action Plans and annual reports to Parliament on progress by the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence (DFSV) Commission. The first Annual Report was tabled in August 2024.

The National Plan is segmented into four broad areas:

Prevention – Stop violence before it starts.
Early Intervention – Stop violence escalating and prevent it from reoccurring.
Response – Efforts and responses used to address existing violence.
Recovery and Healing – Helping to break the cycle of violence and reduce the risk of re-traumatisation.

Funding
WEL responded favourably to the Plan’s release as did the DV sector and peak women’s organisations. What WEL and other organisations are concerned to establish is the quantum and adequacy of funding commitment over the decade of the Plan.

After the community outcry in 2024 over repeated murders of women and children in domestic-related violence, the Federal Government established the Rapid Review panel. On the tabling of the panel’s report, it announced a “new” $4.7 billion allocation for gender-based violence (https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-canberra-15) in a new National Partnership from 1 July 2025. This was claimed as being on top of other initiatives on housing and support for single parents. When unpacked, $3.9 billion of this amount seems destined for frontline legal assistance over five years. There will be, in addition, $351 million towards a new five year national partnership agreement matched by states and territories.

The National Partnership Agreement on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence 2023-2025 announced by Minister Rishworth on 24 May 2024 was for $47.8 million in funding to prevent family and domestic violence. There were also a range of budget initiatives included in the Women’s Budget Statement 2024-25 to expedite efforts to prevent violence and for early intervention. Most of the allocations were over five years including the $925 million for the Leaving Violence Program, a key component of which was financial support of up to $5,000 for women leaving violence. This trial program will be made permanent from June 2025.

WEL concludes that old and new money has been bundled together for a headline announcement without sufficient explanation of the real increase in funding that it represents. Nor is there sufficient explanation of how the funding will be apportioned to various programs beyond that of legal assistance.

WEL urges the Federal Government to increase in real terms the allocation under any new National Social Housing and Homelessness Agreement so that the domestic and family violence component of the funding, under bilateral agreements with the states and territories, is increased and allocated to women’s refuges and shelters and accompanying temporary and transitional accommodation. No woman or her children fleeing violence should be turned away from these services anywhere in Australia.

Data Collection
A second key concern in relation to the Plan is establishing the evidence base for measuring progress against specific targets. The collection and analysis of data enables progress to be monitored and exposes deficiencies or gaps in policy, programs and services.

National data is required on current and future demand for services accompanied by needs analyses taking into account the needs of diverse groups. DFSV affects different groups in society in different ways. WELis conscious that there are cultural barriers and pressures on women to prevent their reporting violence and accessing services. Responses to violence in communities need to be nuanced and programs and services to be culturally safe and appropriate, co-designed and place based. Data and information need to be disaggregated and linked so that successful responses and systemic and other obstacles or failures can be identified.

There are a number of national agencies which collect data and/or conduct research into aspects of DFSV: Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS), Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) and the National Crime Intelligence Service (NCIS). All are reliable sources of information supported by government.

The AIHW has recently published an update on national information gaps on DFSV in July 2024. It acknowledges that no single data source can provide all the information needed to report on DFSV.

WEL considers that action to improve national data collection is critical to informed decision-making and the allocation of resources. While some categories of data are available at the state or territory level, comparisons are difficult because of differing methods of collection and different definitions. National consistency in data collections, establishing new collections and expanding the analysis of existing data targeted to improving the effectiveness of responses to DFSV are vital improvements needed. In order for the National Plan and its 5 year Action Plans to retain their credibility as the major framework for ending DFSV, they must be able to demonstrate progress in real reduction in violence against women and children.

Prevention Programs

Preventing violence before it starts is a key plank of the National Plan and was the major focus of the August 2024 Rapid Review. Its report has unveiled areas of progress as well as many matters which require further action, reform and, above all, properly targeted resources.

This report together with the first Annual Report from the DFSV Commission provide ample insights and evidence to guide governments on the necessary next steps. WEL supports their key findings and trusts that governments will prioritise future action in partnership with national peak bodies, women’s organisations and alliances as well as key service providers and organisations representing victim/survivors and their supporters. The creation of a Prevention Innovation Fund is one of WEL’s key priorities to build a better appreciation of what kind of prevention program is most effective. WEL recognises that “the promotion of healthy masculinities” (Rapid Review p7, pp30-33) is vital if online platforms promoting misogyny are to be countered.

Alcohol and Gambling Industry Regulation

There is longstanding evidence that alcohol can contribute to physical violence and severe injury to partners. The studies cited in the Rapid Review report (p71) all point to the need for better regulation around the concentration of alcohol outlets in certain areas and the minimum effort by the industry to modify its business models and its advertising of this potentially harmful product. Restrictions on the sale of alcohol have focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Those restrictions work more effectively when undertaken in cooperation with and at the request of communities. WEL advocates, and the evidence supports, an extension of such restrictions across the broader Australian community.

WEL notes the evidence cited in the Rapid Review (p72) regarding gambling and its contribution to escalating DVSV. The public debate on banning all advertising of gambling is welcome and WEL is keen to see a ban on its advertising in all mainstream media. WEL believes this has broad community support.

Workforce Capability
The DFSV Commission Annual Report includes among its key findings the building of workforce capability (pp69-80). It maps out some further work to address the challenges for workers in the DV sector and other workers such as health and legal professionals, police, teachers, counsellors and so on. Both specialists and non-specialists require knowledge and competencies and upgrading their skills with continuing professional development.

WEL in its evidence to the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Family Law System in 2020 responded to a Question on Notice regarding professional development requirements for family law work, where DFV is involved, with a detailed set of recommendations on the content and length of training. There is a huge range of training courses available and a multi-disciplinary training package in family violence – AVERT Family Violence.

The NSW Health Education Centre against Violence offers a number of courses which focus on different levels of engagement and work contexts. There is a wealth of information available on the learning outcomes suited to the requirements of practitioners in various fields of work as well as for specialist workers. While more training needs surveys may be applicable in some fields as new challenges emerge, there should be funding provided for training now, not awaiting the development of a national workforce strategy. The difficulties faced by services on the ground recruiting staff for which federal funds were allocated in 2023 makes the availability of training critical to service capacity at a time of crisis.

Summary
Ending DFSV in a generation will require whole of community effort, relevant workforce capability and capacity and each level of government contributing its part to systemic, legal, justice and policing reform as well as allocating adequate and ongoing funding to front-line services.

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