Weekly Round-up* 12 May 2016

Around the Country

• Last week, the Australian Government released its budget for 2016-17. We believe that the budget evades the hard challenges, and its response to violence against women is not proportionate to the scale and urgency of the problem. For more analysis, read our media release here and our budget analysis here. You can also read more about what other women’s organisation have said about the budget at Equality Rights Alliance’s budget hub. As Moo Baulch from Domestic Violence NSW has noted in this article, the Government has failed to “put our money where our collective mouth is”.
• Australia’s offshore detention system continues to be dangerous and inhumane, as shown by The Guardian’s report on the ordeal of a woman raped while in detention on Nauru, and her efforts to obtain a safe and legal termination of the resulting pregnancy. AWAVA continues to call for an end to the mandatory offshore detention of asylum seekers, in response to the sexual assault and physical abuse occurring in offshore detention centres.
  [These articles contain content that some reader may find distressing]
• Women’s Legal Services Australia has launched a new campaign called Safety First in Family Law, aimed at removing legal hurdles that make the Family Court system difficult to navigate for womentrying to build lives free of violence. Learn more about the campaign here.
• Disability activist Sue Salthouse has written about the need to ensure that the experiences and concerns of women with disabilities are recognised in the campaign against family and domestic violence.
• In Tasmania, police records have revealed a 20 per cent increase in reports of family and domestic violence.
• In NSW, the government will introduce a number of reforms to the state’s Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVO) scheme, significantly expanding the reasons for which an ADVO can be taken out.

Around the World

• Feminist activist Gloria Steinem is producing a documentary which will tell the stories of individuals and communities fighting gender-based violence around the world. The documentary will premiere on May 10.
• Creators of the app My Plan, which provides support to women experiencing violence, hope to introduce the app in Somalia.
• Vice-President of the European parliament has called on EU member states to adopt gender-based asylum policies.

Research, Reports and Resources

• Subscribe to Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s e-newsletter for analysis of initiatives on women, peace and security. Read the latest e-newsletter here!

Get involved!

• Interested in finding out more about the 60^th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women which took place in March this year? Register to attend the National Women’s Alliances CSW60 International Engagement Webinar on 25 May from 1:00 – 2:30 pm AEST. RSVP to [email protected] or find more information here!
• The Commonwealth Department of Social Services is currently conducting consultations to inform the Third Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children. To seek an invitation to one of the consultation roundtables, or to provide written input, you can email[email protected].
• Marai Larasi and Prof Rashida Manjoo will be the keynote speakers for the AWAVA/ Our Watch international conference on violence against women (19 to 22 September 2016). Find out more and sign on for email updates at our website!
• The University of Melbourne has created a website called “Not The Only One” where women can anonymously read and share stories about experiencing family and domestic violence.
• Women’s Legal Service NSW is holding a seminar series on the basics of Women and Family Law on 18 May in Sydney. Register by 11 May here!
• A group of young women from the electorate of Braddon in Tasmania are holding a 24 Hour Colourathon on 20 May to raise money for women’s shelters in their local area.
• The Child Aware Approaches Conference will be held on 23 and 24 May 2016 in Brisbane. Find out more here.
• The 2016 Global Indigenous Women’s Conference will be held from September 12-14 2016 in Adelaide. Register here.
• The National Multicultural Women’s Conference will be held on 3 and 4 November 2016 in Parkroyal Parramatta, Sydney. Find out more here.
• Master of Psychology student at Bond University, Sharelle Kostogolou, is seeking responses to a survey on the unauthorised sharing of intimate images (or ‘revenge porn’). If you wish to participate in the survey, please follow this link.