On Tuesday this week, the Australian Human Rights Commission released Change the Course, its report on sexual assault and harassment at Australian universities. The report revealed the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment at universities and made a total of nine recommendations, which included measures such as commissioning an independent evaluation of university policies on [...]
This week, Universities Australia (UA) announced that a national round-the-clock 1800 helpline, run by Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia (RDVSA), will be established for survivors of sexual assault on university campuses (including those who have dropped out of their degrees). UA’s decision comes after a sustained campaign by student activists, demanding that universities implement the [...]
This week, the Federal Government has released draft amendments to the Family Law Act. The amendments could ban alleged perpetrators from cross-examining victims/survivors in domestic violence cases in court, a practice that both re-traumatises victims/survivors and prevents them from pursuing legal options. The draft legislation comes after tireless and sustained efforts by community organisations, led by [...]
Welcome to this week’s round-up! True Relationships and Reproductive Health and Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health are hosting a two-day National Multicultural Women’s Reproductive and Sexual Health Conferencein Brisbane from 31 July to 1 August 2017. The program includes streams focusing on community-led approaches to responding to migrant and refugee women’s experiences of violence related to sexual and [...]
Welcome to the latest edition of the AWAVA Weekly Round-Up! This week, the Fair Work Commission rejected an application made by the Australian Council of Trade Unions to include 10 days of paid domestic violence leave for all employees under the modern awards scheme. The commission stated that it recognises domestic and family violence leave as [...]
Welcome to this week’s round-up. Early bird registration is now open for the Women's Services Network's (WESNET) 2nd Annual Technology Safety Summit, which will be held on 26 and 27 October 2017 in Melbourne. The summit will bring together national and international experts on technology safety and violence against women. More information and registration details can be found [...]
Last year, the NSW government announced that victims/survivors of domestic violence will be able to end a tenancy immediately and without penalty if they have an apprehended violence order or family law injunction. The new laws are expected to be introduced into parliament this year. However, many women subjected to domestic violence do not report [...]
AWAVA has joined 162 civil society organisations and 383 individuals to call for a Royal Commission into violence and abuse against people with a disability. A submission by the Australian Cross-Disability Alliance (now Disabled People’s Organisations Australia) illustrates how widespread these crimes are, including the fact that 90 percent of women with an intellectual disability [...]
Welcome to the latest AWAVA Weekly Round-Up! This week, Our Watch released a major new resource, Putting the prevention of violence against women into practice: How to change the story. Last year Our Watch launched the world-first shared framework for primary prevention, Change the Story, which identified gender inequality as the key driver of violence [...]
The National Foundation for Australian Women has released its 2017 Gender Lens report, showing that despite some positive initiatives the Australian Government’s 2017-18 Budget does little to address the entrenched economic disadvantage experienced by women. Given that gender inequality is the key underlying driver of violence against women and their children, this is a major [...]
