AWAVA is hiring! We are looking for a casual policy officer to join our Canberra office for three to four months. The Policy Officer will provide support to the Program Manager to deliver the aims and objectives of AWAVA. On a day to day basis the Policy Officer will be responsible for drafting policy documents (including background research and consultation with AWAVA Advisory Group members), policy analysis, providing advice to the Program Manager, liaising with AWAVA members and other relevant people, and supporting the Alliance’s social media activities. To apply, follow this link!
Around the country
- In NSW, the government has introduced a $60 million package to tackle domestic and family violence, with a particular focus on perpetrator interventions.
- Karen Willis from Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia has commented on the package in an interview with ABC Drum. Watch her interview here.
- Roxanne McMurray from SOS Women’s Services and Leichardt Women’s Community Health Centre has also commented on the package, specifically highlighting that the funding arrangement fails to address the severe shortage of specialist women’s refuges in the state.
- In Queensland, women will no longer have to give evidence in front of their alleged attacker under new laws passed in the state.
- Also in Queensland, local councils across the state led one of the largest marches in Australia to protest domestic violence on Sunday, 11 October.
- Again in Queensland, the Ending Violence Against Women Queensland (EVAWQ) peak body waslaunched at the beginning of this month.
- In the ACT, Women’s Legal Centre ACT has received $1 million under the federal government’s Women Safety Package.
- Also in the ACT, family violence workers have spoken about their experiences of supporting women and children in crisis.
- In Victoria, former police chief commissioner, Ken Lay, has said that cultural changes in the police force were a result of strong women’s voices within the organisation, rather than pressure from government.
Around the world
- In India, female students from university residential colleges in Delhi have started a campaign called Pinjra Tod (Break the Cage) to challenge strict curfews and assert their right to public spaces.
- In the UK, reports show that nearly 200 incidents of so-called ‘revenge porn’ were reported to the police in the first half of this year.
Research, reports and resources
- The Australian Institute of Family Studies has recently released a report evaluating amendments to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). Read the findings of the Evaluation of the 2012 Family Violence Amendments here. Thank-you to the AWAVA friends and members who contributed to this research.
- Read Issue 5 of the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children eNewsletter here!
Get involved!
- The Australian Women Against Violence Alliance, in conjunction with Our Watch, supported by Women’s Services Network, invite you to attend an international conference on violence against women. The conference will be held from 19-22 September 2016. More information here!
- Women’s Legal Service Victoria is holding an interactive workshop to assist support workers to better understand the Family Violence Protection Act on 20 October in Melbourne. Register here.
- The Annual Civil Society Dialogue on Women, Peace and Security is being held on 22 October 2015 in Canberra. More information and registration here!
- The 3rd World Conference of Women’s Shelters will be held in The Hague from 3 to 6 November 2015. More information here!
- Lucy’s Project is hosting a conference on domestic violence and animal abuse from 6 – 8 November 2015, in Byron Bay. More information here!
- Economic Security For Women (es4w) is conducting an online survey on women’s views on our economic empowerment; our ability to cope with changing conditions in the economy; our participation in paid work and our income in later life and into retirement. Complete the survey here.