Skill up at the AWAVA/Our Watch conference in September! Confirmed sessions include training on technology safety to be run by the Women’s Services Network (WESNET) and media training by Our Watch, to help people working in our sector improve the way we communicate with the media and get appropriate coverage of violence against women issues. Registrations are open, but the early bird rates closes on 17 July, so register now!
Around the Country
- The Australian Labor Party has committed to further measures aimed at preventing and responding to domestic and family violence, including funding to provide representation in court so that vulnerable witnesses are not cross-examined by alleged abuses. This announcement comes shortly after the ALP released its women’s policy on 11 June.
- The Coalition has announced that it would allocated $25 million towards specific measures to address violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. The funding is part of the $100 million funding package announced in the 2016 Budget to implement the Third Action Plan under the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.
- Australia’s four major sporting codes, the AFL, NRL, ARU and Netball have joined Our Watch to work on a national initiative aimed at addressing violence against women and gender inequality.
- The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia has urged all major parties to commit to addressing challenges faced by Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and take decisive action to support CALD women. You can read the parties’ multicultural policy commitments here. For more on FECCA’s multicultural policy campaign, click here.
- Women’s Electoral Lobby has launched #My2CentsWorth, a social media campaign to urge the federal government to fund women’s refuges and other front line services for women and children escaping domestic and family violence. Find out more here.
- Hannah McGlade writes about the horrifying levels of violence that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are subjected to.
- In the ACT, federal Labor has promised more than $600 000 in funding to Canberra’s frontline legal services, including the Women’s Legal Centre ACT, if it forms government following the 2 July election.
Around the World
- In South Africa, Professor Amanda Gouws from Stellenbosh University has written about the role that young women are playing in breaking the silence surrounding gender based violence.
- In the UK, the Ministry of Justice has begun a review of legal aid in domestic violence cases.
- In the US, the Supreme Court recently handed down a decision to uphold the ruling of a Native American Tribal court in a domestic violence case, affirming the sovereignty of Native American Tribal courts.
- A report by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has found that refugee women are at high risk of gender-based violence when seeking sanctuary, in transit and when they arrive in the EU.
Research, Reports and Resources
- The National Foundation of Australian Women has released its 2016 election gender analysis paper.Read ‘What they are saying to women? Election 2016: polices and their impact on women’ here.
- Australia’s National Research Organisation on Women’s Safety (ANROWS) has funded a new research project titled, ‘Women, disability and violence: Creating access to justice’. Read more about the project here.
Get Involved!
- The Women’s Services Network (WESNET), AWAVA’s lead agency, is hiring! WESNET is seeking two National Technology Safety Trainers to help the SafetyNet team train frontline workers. Trainers can be based anywhere in Australia that is within a one-hour commute of a major airport. Applications close 9am (AEST) Monday 4 July 2016. Click here for more information on how to apply.
- Expressions of interest for ANROWS’s 2016-18 Practitioner Engagement Group are now open! Apply by midnight on Sunday, 26 June.
- ANROWS is hiring! ANROWS is seeking a Director for the Evidence to Action program to lead the development and implementation of its knowledge translation and exchange functions. Apply by midnight on Sunday, 26 June here!
- 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.
- The One Woman Project is hosting ‘Brisbane’s Finest Feminists’, a conference bringing together feminists from Brisbane, Australia and beyond. The conference will be held on 30 July. More information here!
- Nominations are open for the Women’s Legal Services NSW Bright Spark Award 2016. Nominate an inspiring woman who you believe deserves recognition for outstanding community service and advocacy. Learn more about the award and nomination procedure here. Submit your nominations by Friday, 22 July.
- The 2016 Victims and Justice National Conference will be held on 8 and 9 August 2016 in Melbourne.More information here.
- Tickets are on sale for the Fearless Comedy Gala – Comedians Against Family Violence. Some of Australia’s top comedians will unite in Canberra on 18 August to make a stand against family violence in our community. All proceeds from this year’s event will be donated to the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT. More info available here.
- The National Multicultural Women’s Conference will be held on 3 and 4 November 2016 in Parkroyal Parramatta, Sydney. Find out more here.