Release of the draft National Plan

The big news of the fortnight was of course the release of the draft National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children. Following release on Friday 14 January, and an initially nominated consultation period of only two weeks, the federal government experienced a significant pushback from the women’s sector. The date for comments has now been extended to 25 February 2022.

We again strongly encourage you to read the draft and send in your feedback via the online questionnaire.  

Around the Country

• The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) has urged financial security to be taken into account in the draft National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children.

• The Law Council of Australia has released a Model Definition of Family Violence.

• The federal Online Safety Act commenced on 23 January, enhancing and expanding the e-Safety Commissioner’s powers.

• The federal government has announced that the national assault, domestic and family violence hotline 1800RESPECT will be delivered under a five-year contract with Telstra Health from July 2022.

• Fourteen community organisations across Queensland have been successful in receiving grant funding from the Queensland Government for projects that respond to domestic and family violence in the state’s culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

• According to the South Australian government, South Australian survivors of domestic violence are now receiving extra support to secure safe long-term housing for themselves and their children –including help to find a rental property and cash to cover the cost of a bond.

• Townsville City Council is collaborating with the Townsville Liquor Accord, the Women’s Centre, Sera’s Women’s Shelter, NQDVRS, and Yumba-Meta to produce and distribute coasters featuring positive relationship messages.

• Family violence organisations have voiced concerns that worker shortages in the transport and removals industry are making it difficult for people to flee unsafe homes.

Around the World

• Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are institutionalising large-scale and systematic gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls, a group of 36 UN human rights experts have said.

• In Kabul, Taliban forces have fired pepper spray at a group of women protesting in Afghanistan’s capital to demand rights to work and education.

• The African Business Daily reports that women in electrified households report significantly lower acceptance of sexual and gender-based violence. One reason may be that electricity increases women’s access to information and their exposure to different world-views where gender violence is considered unacceptable. 

• The Colorado Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board found that most domestic violence related fatalities in Colorado involve a firearm, and that there was a strong correlation between femicide and housing instability.

• Malta Prime Minister Robert Abela has told women's rights activists that his government is committed to raising awareness and continuing to fight ‘dire realities’ such as rape and femicide.

• The House of Lords has voted to make misogyny a hate crime in England and Wales, enabling stronger penalties if prejudice against women is proved to be the motivation.

• In India, the number of women reaching out to the National Commission for Women to report violence and harassment within their homes has shown a significant rise in 2021 when compared to 2020.

The United Nations Security Council hosted its first-ever Open Debate on the issue of violence and reprisals against women in the context of peace and security processes:

• Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, spoke at the Security Council noting that women’s participation in forging peace worldwide was ‘vastly worse’ post pandemic.
• Online forum Just Security reflects on the debate and the surge in reprisals against women and the rise of counterterrorism.

In the Irish Republic continues to reel after the murder of schoolteacher Ashling Murphy:

• The Labour Party has called for the appointment of a senior Cabinet minister with responsibility for tackling gender-based violence.
• Ireland’s Premier Micheal Martin has said he wants a zero-tolerance approach to violence against women.
• Sinn Féin has announced it will bring forward a Private Member’s Bill outlining changes the government must implement to eliminate violence against women and girls.

Research and Publications

• ANROWS has released a new research report Compliance with and enforcement of family law parenting orders: Views of professionals and judicial officers.

• Child and Family Social Work journal article Responding to women experiencing domestic and family violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring experiences and impacts of remote service delivery in Australia (Naomi Pfitzner, Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Silke Meyer) is available under open access.

• The Medical Journal of Australia discusses dowry abuse in Dowry abuse: red flags for GPs with South Asian patients, calling for uniformity in the laws against dowry abuse in Australia.

• A new report from Everytown for Gun Safety finds hatred of women is fuelling far-right ideologies.

• New research from eSafety gives insights into young people’s perceptions and experiences of online safety, including how they want governments, regulators and the tech industry to include them in building the online world of the future.

Media

• Psychology Today’s article It's Post-Separation Legal Abuse, Not High Conflict Divorce discusses how abusers torment their exes through the courts in the form of coercive control.

• The Lily -a Washington Post publication- editorialises Senators are pushing to reauthorise the Violence Against Women Act. Will it help Indigenous communities?

• Ms Magazine analyses how Attacks on Women in Politics Are on the Rise Around the World.

• The Guardian interviews two former officials at the Afghan women’s affairs ministry who are now in hiding, afraid of the men they helped put in prison for domestic violence and other abuses -many of them are in the Taliban or with family links to the militants.

Surveys

• Our Watch is currently looking for professionals working in primary and secondary school settings to undertake a ten minute survey about the Respectful Relationships Education (RRE) website. 

• The Make Renting Fair in Queensland campaign is seeking feedback through its rental reform survey. This survey will only take a few minutes to complete and will assist in focusing the advocacy of the campaign for all Queensland renters.

• The Women’s Electoral Lobby are asking women to complete a survey to have their say on the issues important to them in the lead up to next year’s federal election.

Calls for Submissions and EOIs

• The federal government has called for submissions from individuals, businesses and community groups on their views regarding priorities for the 2022-23 Budget prior to 28 January 2022.

• The UNSW Law Journal is currently welcoming submissions for Issue 45(3), due by 4 February 2022. The theme is ‘Law and Economics’ and submissions on a range of topics including modern slavery, and interactions between feminist economics and law on areas such as unpaid domestic labour, maternity leave and workplace discrimination are invited.  

• The Tasmanian Government is seeking input on proposed Criminal Code amendments creating a new offence of choking, suffocation or strangulation and adding to the definition of consent regarding behaviour colloquially known as ‘stealthing’. Submissions must be received by 18 February 2022.

• The Productivity Commission is reviewing the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, examining how well governments have achieved its objectives, and looking at  the impact of social and economic factors, including the coronavirus pandemic, on housing and homelessness in Australia. An issues paper is available, with submissions closing on 21 February 2022.

• The Victorian government has released an interim report on its Social Housing Regulation Review, and is inviting comment until 28 February 2022.

• The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is inviting manuscripts for a special issue ‘Engaging Men and Boys in the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls’. Deadline for submission is 31 July 2022.

Events

• SAVE THE DATE: At 1pm on 17 February 2022 WESNET and AWAVA, along with Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) and the National Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance (NATSIWA), are launching their report Young Women and Non-Binary People’s Experiences of Gender-Based Violence across Australia. More information will be provided in the next Round Up.

• The ANROWS conference (22-25 February 2022) “On the Agenda” schedule and program are now available.

Training and Education

• RMIT’s Graduate Certificate in Domestic and Family Violence provides an exciting opportunity for current and future family violence practitioners, with subjects in gendered violence, responding to family violence, primary prevention of violence against women and specialist case coordination and management. The program is offered online and part-time to support work/life/study balance. Applications can be made online here, or for more information, visit the Program Overview.

• Harmony Alliance has developed a free online course on 'Financial Literacy for Women' available in English, Arabic, Dari, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Nepalese, Punjabi, Hazaragi, Thai, Karen, and Korean.

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*Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA or WESNET and are included as items of interest only.

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