Federal election 2022

The federal election has been called for 21 May 2022.

AWAVA is a non-party-political feminist alliance comprising peak bodies and specialist organisations aimed at preventing and responding to gendered violence.  AWAVA does not receive funding from government, and is not aligned with any political organisation.  We advocate for victim-survivors of violence and the organisations that support them, and we encourage all governments to do better. 

We understand that gendered violence is a consequence of gender inequality, and cannot be addressed in isolation from broader measures aimed at improving equality based not just on gender and sex, but also on other identities or characteristics including race, ability, sexuality, income, occupation, and geography.

While we do not endorse candidates or parties, we encourage our friends and supporters to consider party policies and the impact these might have on the various dimensions of equality and on the safety of women, children and non-binary people. Your vote is important, and well-informed voting is a fundamental tenet of democracy.

AWAVA will shortly be releasing its own ‘report card’ on pre-election policies but, in the meantime, we’re including a special section focussing on other people’s pre-election policy analysis.  We would be delighted to include more links in the next edition (10 May), so please let us know if you have any suggestions.

2022 election policy analysis

• Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA) has released its election platform.

• Change the Record’s election platform calls on the incoming government to choose to end the inequality that is driving mob into prisons, and instead fund affordable housing, social security and services for everyone, including adequately funding family violence prevention and legal services to meet community need.

• Harmony Votes offers in-language information to support migrant and refugee women to make informed decisions in elections and actively participate in political life.

• The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) is developing a range of briefings on key issues around critical policies for women that need to be addressed and part of the dialogue in the lead up to the 2022 Federal Election.

• The Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) has developed a comprehensive policy platform on a range of issues affecting women’s lives.

• The Victorian Women’s Trust is running the Matters That Count initiative that calls on people to get together with friends and screen 1-3 of their federal election candidates, asking them to declare their hand on 8 core matters.

• Fair Agenda scores the major parties’ track records at Election 2022: Together for women's safety.
  

• Women’s Agenda identifies which candidates have signed on to Fair Agenda’s Pledge for a Safer Future.

• The First Nations Housing - Election Priorities calls for further funding to the states and territories to ensure existing public housing stock is retrofitted and properly maintained as the climate crisis worsens.

• Communicare and White Ribbon Australia are encouraging all Australians to reach out to their local political candidates and urge them to make women's safety a key election priority. Resources are available here.
  

• Mamamia writes about where the major parties stand on the issue of violence against women.
  

• The Guardian confirms a substantial gender split in attitudes towards the prime minister, with men at plus six approval and women at net 13-point disapproval. This is also translating into a 10-point difference in gender voting intention.

• Lloyd and Sue Clarke talk about what they want to see being done to address family violence.

• The ABC reports Northern Territory Senate hopefuls promise a 'shake-up' in fight against family violence.
  

• In the context of US politics, MSNBC discusses how victim blaming and gaslighting has become the routine response from Republicans accused of harassment, abuse and violence, and that the idea that we should “believe women” is something only Democratic voters say and believe.

• The Conversation asks: Women have been at the centre of political debate in the past two years. Will they decide the 2022 election?
  

• Women’s Agenda writes Stop claiming gender pay gap credit when you’ve done nothing to narrow it.
  

• Pro Bono News has gathered together the main policy wants from across key pillars of the charity sector, as well as other key areas of interest from charities, peak bodies, and advocacy groups.

Around the Country

• It has been announced that Catherine Fitzpatrick will be Australia’s first National Domestic, Family, and Sexual Violence Commissioner. Ms Fitzpatrick’s appointment will commence from 1 July 2022 for five years.

• Our Watch has proudly welcomed gender equality and social justice leader, Moo Baulch OAM, to the position of Our Watch Chair.
  

• The Australian Human Rights Commission’s status as a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) has been reviewed by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) – the international standards body. The AHRC was not reaccredited as an A-status national human rights institution. The key concern of the Committee was the selection and appointment process for Commissioners.

• According to domestic and family violence services, domestic and family violence has been exacerbated by flood disaster in south-east Queensland communities.
  

• Advocates are saying that people with disabilities are increasingly ‘forgotten’ in emergency planning.
  

• At least six senior NSW police officers, who recently committed serious domestic violence offences, have kept their jobs shocking victim advocates and raising questions about the force's commitment to addressing abuse within police ranks and in the broader community.

• A child victim of family violence, perpetrated by his police officer stepfather, says he has been traumatised all over again after a recent investigation ordered by Victoria Police's internal integrity unit disregarded his evidence.
  

• Former elite child gymnasts say that a report recommending they receive an apology for past alleged abuse does not go far enough. They want the WA state government and national sporting peak body to hold those responsible accountable.

• Western Australia’s first purpose-built centre for women and children escaping domestic violence has been approved by the City of Perth. The centre will provide a safe and welcoming place with short-term accommodation for more than 300 women and children annually.

• In Victoria, the state government is calling for at least 10 days’ paid family violence leave to be implemented in the private sector.

• The Family Violence Memorial was recently unveiled at the St Andrews Reserve site in Melbourne as a space for remembrance, reflection, and hope.

Around the World

• The Global Network of Women’s Shelters (GNWS) has launched Lila.help, a directory about direct services for women and girls fleeing from violence, listing accurate, vetted, and safe helplines and shelters for every country and territory in the world.  GNWS wants every organisation that provides trustworthy direct services to people experiencing gender-based violence included in their directory. Organisations can fill in their information via this link.
  

• Human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad Basee spearheaded the launch of the Murad Code, a project to help survivors of sexual violence in conflict document their experiences and seek support and justice.
  

• The United Nations is increasingly hearing accounts of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine, as a Ukrainian human rights group accused Russian troops of using rape as a weapon of war.

• The Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner addressed the issue of the invisibility of women and girls with disabilities, noting that women with disabilities were more than twice as likely to experience violence and abuse compared to women without disabilities in the UK.

• Following bomb blasts in Kabul’s Hazara neighbourhood, Human Rights Watch notes A Bleak Future with Education Under Attack in Afghanistan.
  

• Also in Afghanistan, protections for women facing violence have vanished under the Taliban.
  

• Women and children living in some of the hardest-to-reach camps in north-west Syria face chronic and high levels of violence and depression, with some women forced to engage in “survival sex”, a new report has revealed.
  

• Women and girls in South Sudan are battling mounting sexual violence amid conflict and climate crises.

• In an unprecedented ruling, a Los Angeles judge deemed a man’s refusal to give his wife a get, or Jewish divorce, a form of domestic violence, and made that determination part of the basis for granting her full custody of their children.

• A belated #MeToo awakening in Greece has shed more light on abuse of women in the country, with Greek activists saying the conservative country has yet to fully dismantle traditional, patriarchal attitudes that lead to violence against women.

• In her address to the EEA/Norway Grants’ SYNERGY Network on gender-based and domestic violence, Louise Hooper, an asylum lawyer and expert to the Council of Europe on issues related to migration and gender, provides concrete recommendations on how to develop gender-sensitive reception procedures and support services for asylum seekers.
  

• Demonstrations in Turkey reject threats to dissolve "We will stop the killing of women" platform.
  

• New Indonesian law sets out nine different kinds of sexual abuse, including physical and non-physical sexual abuse, forced contraception, forced sterilisation, forced marriage, sexual torture, sexual exploitation, sexual slavery, and sexual abuse through electronic means, and crucially recognising sexual abuse both within and outside of marriage.

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law an abortion ban that restricts abortions after fifteen weeks of pregnancy. The new law allows abortions after fifteen weeks only if the pregnancy is life threatening or if there is a fatal fetal abnormality. The law does not allow abortions after fifteen weeks in cases of rape or incest.

• Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law a near-total abortion ban that criminalises performing an abortion in all cases except for life-threatening pregnancies. Under the law, performing an abortion in Oklahoma may be punished with a ten-year prison sentence.

• While the reauthorisation of the US Violence Against Women Act is an important step, activist Mary Kathryn Nagle argues that only full restoration of Indigenous sovereignty will stop the epidemic of violence against Native women.

• The US National Football League (NFL) and the National Domestic Violence Hotline have renewed their partnership for three years through a grant from the league.
  

• A rising wave of violence in Colombia’s primary coca-producing region is targeting women, leading to an unprecedented spike in killings and forcing others to flee.

• The first all-women media house in Somalia has been launched, creating a rare opportunity for female journalists in the country to research and publish stories they want to tell.

Research and Publications

• ANROWS report New Ways for Our Families presents the results of a literature review and the findings from the initial cycles of action research conducted with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander chief investigators, community researchers, and practitioners working in eight community-controlled child and family services across Queensland.

• The 2022 Close The Gap Campaign Report Transforming Power: Voices for Generational Change, prepared by the Lowitja Institute for the Close The Gap Steering Committee, has been released.

• The University of Western Sydney has released a report on Social Media Insights from Sexuality and Gender Diverse Young People during Covid-19.
  

• The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has released its report Has the rate of domestic and family violence changed in NSW?: Victim survey results from July 2008 to June 2020, suggesting that the prevalence of physical domestic and family violence in NSW did not change significantly over the time periods examined.

• The University of Newcastle has released a report The wisdom of women and workers: practice considerations for designing assertive outreach services for women experiencing homelessness.
  

• A paper Strengthening the service experiences of women impacted by gambling-related intimate partner violence (IPV), explores positive experiences of help-seeking for gambling-related IPV in Australia by adopting a strengths-based research approach.
  

• More than one in four women (27%) experience intimate partner violence before the age of 50, according to a worldwide analysis. Purportedly the largest of its kind, the analysis from McGill University and the World Health Organisation covers 366 studies involving more than 2 million women in 161 countries.
  

• A state of domestic violence report, examining how the COVID-19 shutdown and other corresponding events influenced domestic violence in Indiana, United States, highlighted a significant increase in the severity of incidents.

• A new study from the University of Toronto found that one-fifth (22.5%) of adults who were exposed to chronic parental domestic violence during childhood developed a major depressive disorder at some point in their life. This was much higher than the 9.1% of those without a history of parental domestic violence.

• The study into the “hidden harm” commissioned by the London mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) found that the rate of violence and abuse against parents and carers was highest among those aged 19-25, and that 81% of perpetrators were male.
  

• Seven in 10 cases of technology-facilitated sexual violence seen last year involved image-based sexual abuse, including non-consensual distribution of sexual images such as revenge porn, according to the Singaporean Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware).

• An open access article Administrative data deficiencies plague understanding of the magnitude of rape-related crimes in Indian women and girls is available.

• A study from the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky showed that Black survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) receive significantly less workplace support than their White counterparts.
  

• The Journal of Adolescent Health has open published an article The Lifetime Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse and Sexual Assault Assessed in Late Adolescence.
  

• BMC’s Women’s Health journal has published Domestic violence in Indian women: lessons from nearly 20 years of surveillance; along with Longitudinal inconsistencies in women’s self-reports of lifetime experience of physical and sexual IPV: evidence from the MAISHA trial and follow-on study in North-western Tanzania.
  

• PLOS Medicine has published an open article Prevention of violence against women and girls: A cost-effectiveness study across 6 low- and middle-income countries, finding investment in established community-based VAWG prevention interventions can improve population health.

• A new US study focussing on interrupting intergenerational cycles of violence and trauma, and preventing child abuse finds that intertwining parenting and mental health support for young mothers can lead to improved outcomes.
  

• A paper in the Psychiatric Times discusses violence against women, which can result in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other acquired brain injuries (ABIs), intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that a comprehensive and long-term strategy is required to address this issue and to ensure the mental well-being of women.

• AWAVA, WESNET, NATSIWA and WWDA have launched the ‘Report on Young Women and Non-Binary People’s Experiences of Gender-Based Violence across Australia‘. The report is available now on AWAVA’s website here.

Resources and guidelines

• Elder abuse awareness bookmarks and posters have been translated into 15 languages by the Australian Human Rights Commission to increase community awareness of the National Elder Abuse phone line. Additional languages will be rolled out this year.

• Violence against women increases at times of disaster. Gender and Disaster Australia have compiled some useful resources to ensure first responders consider violence against women as they set up staff evacuation centres and work in communities impacted by disaster. Find the interactive webpage here.
  

• Preventing Violence against Women: A Primer for African Women’s Organizations, developed with the African Women’s Development Fund, explores a feminist approach to preventing violence against women in Africa, outlines current evidence and unpacks key controversies in VAW prevention programming.

• The International Student Principles were developed by the Human Rights Commission to address the human rights concerns of international students living in Australia. They have recently been updated in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international students including the experiences of racial discrimination and race hate.

• To draw attention to all the forms of domestic violence that go unnoticed Swayam, a Kolkata-based organisation that is committed to advancing women's rights and ending inequality and violence against women and girls, has released a set of three short films in Hindi and in English.
  

Media

• The Guardian writes Better police training isn’t a silver bullet to address Queensland’s domestic violence problem.
  

• The Conversation writes about how the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on women is derailing decades of progress on gender equality.
  

• The McGill International Review examines the women’s revolution in Sudan.
  

• The Guardian discusses the new wave of female film-makers confronting Mexico’s violence against women.

• The African Mail & Guardian notes the high rate of gendered violence in South Africa, despite it having world-leading laws against discrimination and violence, due largely to a lack of enforcement and lack of resources at both a government and community level.

• The Nation’s article Sex, Death, and Empire: The Roots of Violence Against Asian Women describes the line from America’s earliest empire in the Philippines to Japan, Korea, Vietnam—and anti-Asian violence at home—as straight, clear, and written in blood.

• The Guardian asks (and attempts to answer) Does toxic masculinity explain why men kill women? Perhaps not as much as we thought.

• Psychology Today writes Even After Escape, Children Still Suffer Domestic Abuse.
  

• The Regulatory Review considers How the Carceral State Punishes Survivors.
  

• Australian women’s website, Primer, has announced that investigative journalist Jess Hill has joined the team to cover the issue of gendered violence.
  

• The webinar launching the AWAVA, WESNET, NATSIWA and WWDA Report on Young Women and Non-Binary People’s Experiences of Gender-Based Violence across Australia can be watched here.
  

• AWAVA’s own Karen Bentley, CEO of Women’s Services Network (WESNET), features in episode 3 of There’s No Place Like Home - FF new podcast that puts survivors of family violence at the centre of the story. Learn more by heading to the podcast website.

Calls for Submissions and EOIs

• The Melbourne Social Equity Institute, in partnership with Volunteer West, is offering a new scholarship to research the gendered dynamics in community volunteering and volunteering engagement practice. Expressions of Interest are open until Wednesday 27 April 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

• The National Congress of Women is an initiative of the Women’s Climate Congress to lead a women’s movement on climate change. The National Congress is holding an online day on 28 April 2022 to explore new opportunities for working together for action on climate change at local and national levels.

• A community candle-lighting ceremony will be hosted by the Not Now, Not Ever in Logan reference group from 5.30pm to 6.30pm on Wednesday, May 4 at the Logan Entertainment Centre forecourt, in Logan Central. The ceremony will remember those who have lost their lives through domestic and family violence while also supporting those affected by it.

• The Hedland Says No To Family Violence march will be held at South Hedland Square on May 4 and is co-ordinated by the Hedland Family Violence Action Group.

• DVNSW is hosting their 2022 Conference live and in-person in Sydney on the 12th and 13th of May 2022 at the NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre. The theme of the conference is Reconnect, Re-energise, Redesign.

• Local organisations are encouraged to register as exhibitors at the 2022 Together We Can Community Leadership Summit on 17-18 May. The annual summit is an opportunity for community members and organisations to come together to discuss ways to stop, prevent and end family violence in Cardinia Shire.

• The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) 2022 Conference on 15-17 June 2022 in Melbourne will imagine a future where putting families at the centre drives the work of researchers, policy-makers and service providers.

• No to Violence Conference 2022: Shifting the Burden is on at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 1 to 4 August 2022.

Training and Education

• for purpose’s Policy and Advocacy Intensive is now online, starting on 4 May 2022. The Policy and Advocacy Intensive provides people from the not-for-profit sector with the opportunity to work alongside like-minded individuals to develop the critical skills required to navigate policy and political processes and make change happen.

• Project Respect is delivering 'Supporting Women in the Sex Industry' Capacity Building Training courses and has an e-Learning course starting on the 24th of March and an Introductory Workshop on the 19th of May. Project Respect’s Training & Courses webpage has more information and their Supporter Update mailing list has training updates.

• ACON has recently launched three online training modules: The Trans Vitality: Trans Affirming Practice eLearning; Trans and Gender Diverse Sexual Health ELearning, in collaboration with ASHM; and Recognise and Respond, in collaboration with the Black Dog Institute.

• The RACGP Family Violence GP Education Program assists GPs in developing skills and knowledge to respond to domestic and family violence. The program is open to all Victorian GPs and practice staff and offers two training pathway options – beginner and intermediate/advanced.
• WESNET is offering Technology Safety Online Training for SADFV professionals, for dates and training descriptions please visit https://techsafety.org.au/training
  
• The Council of Europe has launched a new, free online course on Violence Against Women for Law Enforcement Professionals.
  

• 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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