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AWAVA made a submission on the development of the 2016-17 Budget.

While The Australian Government’s policies have supported valuable work on the prevention of violence against women and have promoted a better understanding of the attitudes that enable violence and undermine safety, the services that deal directly with women living in situations of violence continue to struggle to meet rising demand. Funding for these services is the most critical gap in the Government’s otherwise positive approach to preventing and responding to violence  against women.

Download our full submission here 

AWAVA welcomes the opportunity to contribute a submission to the Senate inquiry into the Family Law Amendment (Financial Agreements and Other Measures) Bill 2015.

We support the intention of the Bill to strengthen the Family Law Act, and particularly the intention of enabling the courts to offer better protection to victims of family violence.

We agree that there is merit in enabling family courts to dismiss an application where there is no reasonable prospect of success, but we share Women’s Legal Service Queensland’s concern about possible negative unforeseen consequences for victims of domestic and family violence.

More generally, in light of the serious concerns raised by Women’s Legal Service Queensland in its submission, we have reservations about whether many of the proposed amendments will achieve the purpose of offering better protection to victims of family violence. Much more extensive change is needed in order to make the safety of women and children central to the operation of the family law system.

Download our submission here 

AWAVA welcomes the opportunity to contribute a submission to the Senate inquiry into ‘the phenomenon colloquially referred to as “revenge porn”, which involves sharing private sexual images and recordings of a person without their consent, with the intention to cause that person harm’.

We support moves to criminalise the non-consensual sharing of intimate images in Commonwealth law. The best protection in the Australian context will be achieved by a specific-purpose Commonwealth law mirrored by consistent and uniform State and Territory laws. Penalties for the offence should be substantial, reflecting the harm caused and the need to deter potential offenders. The definition of the offence should recognise that there are cultural and other differences in understandings of what is intimate or sexual. It should also focus on the potential harm caused to the victim, rather than the intention of the offender, with culpability framed in terms of recklessness with regard to the likely impacts on the victim, rather than depending on intention per se, which can be difficult to establish.

Download our submission here  

AWAVA has made a submission to the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence. The Submission makes recommendations to the Council of Australian Governments relating to The implementation of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, Access to Justice for women and children experiencing violence, Housing and Homelessness policy and funding, Responding to Technology Assisted Abuse, Education Reform and Targeted Funding for Family Violence and Specialist Women’s Services.

For more information please download the full submission here: 

In AWAVA’s Pre-Budget Submission 2015-2016, we outline policy recommendations for consideration by the Commonwealth Government in its 2015-16 budget. Over recent years, the Commonwealth Government has demonstrated leadership towards preventing male violence against women, improving community understanding and awareness of domestic and family violence and sexual assault, and putting legislation and services in place to protect and support women and their children who have experienced violence. AWAVA welcomed the Commonwealth Government’s release of the Second Action Plan under The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010 – 2022. This National Plan is imperative for effectively responding to the needs of Australian women and their children. Its focus on prevention and emphasis on “working to increase gender equality to prevent violence from occurring in the first place” is the bedrock of a cross-jurisdictional and comprehensive policy framework for the elimination of male violence against women. However, there needs to be greater focus on achieving substantive equality and an increased comprehension of how achieving substantive equality will significantly assist in addressing systemic contributors to men’s violence against women.

In presenting this submission, AWAVA calls for holistic responses to the greatest areas of need:

• Adequate funding of The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010 – 2022;
• Committed and ongoing Commonwealth Government funding for the National Affordable Housing Agreement and the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness, which provide vital funding for specialist women’s services in the family and domestic violence sector;
• Adequate and sustainable funding of legal assistance services: Legal Aid Commissions, Community Legal Centres, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and Family Violence
• Prevention Legal Services, including specialist women’s legal services that address the specific needs of women facing multiple forms of disadvantage; and
• Adequate and ongoing funding for women’s specialist health services.

In 2008-09, the cost of domestic violence to our economy was estimated at $13.6 billion. Without action, this is expected to rise to an estimated $15.6 billion by 2021-22. Domestic violence in particularly marginalised communities also has high economic costs. Without appropriate action, by 2021-22 domestic violence in immigrant and refugee communities will cost the economy over $4 billion, domestic violence against women with disabilities will cost $3.9 billion and domestic violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities will cost $2.2 billion. It is imperative that adequate funding is allocated to addressing this and other forms of male violence against women and that this funding is proportionate to the extent of the problem.

You can download our complete submission in pdf format here 

AWAVA’s Federal Pre-Budget Submission 2014-2015 emphasizes the need for an increased investment in, and focus on, primary prevention to address violence against women, continued focus on the National Plan and project proposals to assist with the National Plan implementation.