The Victorian Government published its State Action Plan: Action Plan To Address Violence against Women & Children 2012-15: Everyone has a Responsibility to Act in support of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, on 9 October. $90 million over 3 years is committed to its implementation. Its strengths are: Promotion of gender equity [...]
Yesterday, October 11, was the first International Day of the Girl Child - and Australia played an important role with Prime Minister Gillard launching the day. To read the UN report click here. A key theme was early and child marriages - see what Nepal is doing to tackle this issue, how the UNFPA will direct funds [...]
This week, violence against women has dominated many news headlines, with stories of people coming together to mourn the death of Jillian Meagher. Here are a few of the articles that crossed our virtual desks: Keeping Women Safe is Everyone's Responsibility says Jerril Rechter from VicHealth The greenleft published this article stating 'Women Are Not to Blame' [...]
Minister Collins announced today released the Federal Government’s National Implementation Plan for the First Action Plan 2010 – 2013 Building a Strong Foundation . This is the first of four three-year implementation plans to deliver the 12-year National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children. The Australian Women Against Violence Alliance welcomes the release [...]
This week, the Federal Government have made several announcements relating to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children (National Plan) and its implementation. AWAVA welcomes the release of the first stage Implementation Plan and its strong focus on primary prevention, working to increase gender equality to prevent violence from occurring in the first [...]
Changes to the definition of domestic violence and abuse were announced this week in Australia and in the UK: the definition in Queensland has been expanded to include non-violent behaviour, and in the UK 'coercive control' - the pattern of ongoing power and control - is now recognised. This is particularly significant given preparations for the 57th [...]
Four people were arrested in NSW this week on charges relating to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). NSW Family and Community Services Minister, Pru Goward, says that this is unlikely to be an isolated case; The Australian reports this is believed to be the first time charges have been laid for acts committed in Australia and The Telegraph says that girls need to [...]
Domestic and family violence were a key new's focus last week with major announcements in Victoria (see below for a round-up!) and the 7th National Homelessness Conference highlighting the impact domestic and family violence can have on women and their children. Bob McColl, ABS Statistician, pointed out at the conference that domestic violence is still the number one driver [...]
Last week AWAVA was excited to attend the formal launch of the Stopping Violence Against Women Before It Starts: A Practical Toolkit for Communities by Minister Julie Collins at the Country Women™s Association of Australia National Conference, in Hobart. The Toolkit was featured on ABC news. The 15 easy-to-understand Toolkit factsheets support the National Plan to Reduce [...]
“We need to break the silences that surround violence against women. We need men and women in our communities to have those difficult conversations and to start to redress gender and other social inequalities. We need our communities to recognise that it’s everyone's responsibility to address violence against women - this Toolkit is a great [...]