Release of the new National Plan

AWAVA congratulates federal, state and territory governments on the release of the new National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022 - 2032.

The national plan is a critical framework document articulating a national vision for ending violence against women and children in one generation. It sets out principles and priorities to guide yet-to-be-released actions plans. Importantly it centres women’s specialist services - along with victim-survivors - as vital to the plan’s success.

Pleasingly the plan was the subject of both broadcast and print media scrutiny. Notable print media coverage included The Conversation asking A new national plan aims to end violence against women and children ‘in one generation’. Can it succeed? as well as noting Blueprint to tackle violence against women unveiled but detailed Indigenous plan still to come. The Mandarin wrote Plan to end violence against women ambitious and intersectional but lacks detail. 

On television The Project, ABC News and SBS all included segments on the plan.

AWAVA is particularly pleased to see a clear and comprehensive understanding of gender inequality as the root cause of gender-based violence, along with the emphasis on victim-survivors voices in the plan and the inclusion of the survivor statement.

Around the Country

• Community organisations such as housing, Indigenous and domestic violence services will receive an extra $560m over four years in Labor’s first budget since its re-election.The partial indexation of funding revealed by the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, aims to help community services keep up with rising costs. 

• The first set of legislative amendments aimed at strengthening Queensland’s response to coercive control has been introduced into the state’s Parliament. The Bill, if passed, will modernise the definitions and language around coercive control and amend the criminal code to align with wording used in New South Wales, Western Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

• The NSW Government’s bill to criminalise coercive control in intimate partner relationships has passed the Lower House today with support across the Chamber.

• Victoria will become the first Australian jurisdiction to begin negotiating treaties with First Nations groups next year, after a historic deal was brokered to allow traditional owners to enter into interim agreements during negotiations.

• Australia's most populous state has more than 70,000 homeless people, with older women the most at risk of not finding a roof over their heads, a NSW parliamentary report has found.

• The Queensland government has announced that the $1 billion Housing Investment Fund would be doubled to a $2 billion fund to build thousands more social and affordable homes in the next five years.

• Listen to AM on ABC News where the regulator of the electricity and gas markets calls for a major shake-up of consumer safeguards to better protect vulnerable customers.

• The federal cabinet has signed off on contentious new workplace relations legislation, which the Albanese government says is intended to help low-paid employees, particularly women, negotiate higher pay packets and better conditions.

• The Country Women’s Association is finding ways to get Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women together to raise support for the Uluru statement.

• The National Rural Women’s Coalition (NRWC) has announced that it has a new Member Organisation, Transport Women Australia Limited joining its Board. For more information please contact NRWC at [email protected].

• The Australian Government has unveiled a plan to expand the paid parental leave scheme to 26 weeks.

• A new mental health centre has opened in Melbourne that will focus on the unique aspects of mental illness that can occur over the course of a woman’s life. HER Centre Australia will undertake research, provide treatment and improve awareness of women’s mental health issues occurring at all ages.

• The federal government is launching its planned review into the NDIS, a year ahead of schedule. The newly-announced NDIS review will be led by an Independent Review Panel, co-chaired by Professor Bruce Bonyhady AM and Lisa Paul AO PSM.

• Pressure mounts on Queensland’s domestic violence refuges as housing crisis bites with one organisation estimating more than 300 women and children are ready to leave its shelters but cannot do so.

• The Helen Macpherson Smith Trust has gifted $1 million to the State Library of Victoria to support women’s voices.

• Analysis finds a third of single mothers in financial hardship due to welfare policies.

• Australia’s human rights commissioner, Lorraine Finlay, has questioned why the New South Wales government was blocking officials from the UN inspecting its jails if it was confident about meeting minimum standards.

• Listen to ABC PM’s program on how housing is key to women's safety, including ANROWS’ Padma Raman.

• John Herron is to run for Justice party in Victoria state election to ‘fight for’ daughter killed in Royal Park in 2019.

• Gippsland Women's Health Roadshow unearths grim outlook on family violence.

Around the World

• Iranian protesters live under the watchful eye of the country's repressive security forces, but they refuse to back down.

• A radical women’s prison is to open in Glasgow, Scotland, focussing on independence and rehabilitation.

• In Pakistan, the National Assembly has been advised that 63,367 cases of violence against women were registered in the country during the last three years, including 11,160 rape/gang-rape cases.

• Also in Pakistan, relief groups report that Compounding crises endanger women and girls amid Pakistan’s unprecedented flooding.

• The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the premature release of 11 men who were convicted for the gangrape of a pregnant Muslim woman and murder of 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter, according to a court document.

• Faulty DNA testing and politics continue to fail South Africa’s rape victims.

• Read Making choices to place women at the heart of our agenda by Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN Women Sima Bahous at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security.

• Thousands of LGBTQ+ activists and allies attended a vigil to honour the victims of a shooting in Slovakia.

• Indian women remain cautious about the Supreme Court’s ‘historic’ abortion ruling. While abortion rights have been extended to unmarried women, activists wonder how will this affect women’s lives in reality.

• FIFA has welcomed the Council of Europe report on ending discrimination against women in sport.

• Bosnian women vow to end silence over femicide as they march to urge change in criminal law.

• Sudan campaigners demand action after an alarming rise in ‘honour killings’. Reported deaths more than double in a year, with women attacked by male relatives for appearing to talk to men on smartphones.

• Police-reported family violence has increased for the fifth consecutive year in Canada, a new report shows, and some experts are pointing to COVID-19 and lockdowns as one of the major reasons why.

• New York Governor recently signed a comprehensive package of legislation that will strengthen protections for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence by ensuring guns are seized from abusive partners and protecting the confidentiality of survivors.

• In Baton Rouge, starting in early 2023, some people accused of domestic violence crimes will be offered a chance to plea into or be transferred to a 27-week Domestic Violence Intervention Court that will provide services to both the victim and offender.

• Protesters in Warsaw plan to mark the second anniversary of the Polish government’s near-total ban on abortion. They say they will repeat their demands on the government to decriminalise terminations and to ensure access to safe and legal abortion for all.

• Listen to The 77 Percent: Domestic violence in Zambia.

Research and Publications

• The Paul Ramsay Foundation has released Fault Lines: an independent review into Australia's response to COVID-19 finding that low socio-economic families, women, children, aged care residents, people with disabilities, temporary migrants, multicultural communities, and others already experiencing disadvantage bore the brunt of the pandemic.

• Gender Equity Insights is an annual report produced by Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) in collaboration with WGEA. The report identifies trends, policies and practices that work to address gender inequality in the workplace.

• The Human Rights Commission has released a roadmap to compliance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).

• A recent digitisation project undertaken in collaboration between the ANU Library, researchers, and the ANU Gender institute has enabled open access to seven historical publications on the early studies of women in the Australian academy. 

• The Senate Select Committee on Work and Care has released its interim report. 

• Swinburne University has published a research report Think private renting is hard? First Nations people can be excluded from the start.

• The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute’s report The impact of the pandemic on the Australian rental sector investigates the Australian rental sector during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and considers priorities for governments; tenant experiences and reflections on the effectiveness of assistance and interventions; changing tenant aspirations; and the priorities for emerging responses.

• The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has published Income support receipt for young people transitioning from out–of–home care 2022.

• The European Commission has released a special report Criminalisationof gender-based violence against women in European States, including ICT-facilitated violence.

• The Victorian Law Reform Commission has completed its report on Victoria’s responses to stalking, harassment and similar conduct, including the way the Personal Safety Intervention Order (PSIO) system works in Victoria.

• ACOSS report Poverty in Australia 2022: A snapshot found that there are 3.3 million people (13.4%) living below the poverty line of 50% of median income, including 761,000 children (16.6%).

• Women’s Aid in the UK have released Come Together to End Domestic Abuse: a survey of UK attitudes to domestic abuse 2022.

• The UK Government has publishes survey results in Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Experiences and attitudes of 16 year olds in Northern Ireland.

• Plan International has released its The State of the World’s Girls 2022 report focussing on girls, young women and political participation. 

• Finkelhor D, Turner H, Colburn D. Prevalence of online sexual offenses against children in the US. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(10):e2234471.

Resources and Guidelines

• Engender Equality have published Breaking the Trap, Working with Clients Experiencing Coercive Control, a downloadable workbook designed for workers who are supporting people who have been impacted by coercive control.

• Our Watch has developed new tools to support schools in promoting gender equality and creating an Australia free from violence.

• The international Sexual Violence Research Initiative has published Shared Global Research Priorities for the Intersections between Violence against Children and Violence against Women to help to advance the field in a more structured way and to monitor progress against initial evidence gaps.

• Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion has a new specialist program providing legal help to Queenslanders with disability in natural disasters.

• Women's Legal Service WA recently co-designed and produced community education posters aimed at debunking myths commonly used by perpetrators to prevent women leaving an abusive relationship. The posters also feature a QR code linking to the Centre for Women's Safety and Wellbeing's Support and Services Directory.

• Say It Out Loud has published the LGBTQ+ Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Toolkit, written specifically by and for people from sexuality and gender diverse communities (LGBTQ+ people)

• Our Watch’s Men in focus practice guide offers practical strategies on engaging with men and boys on masculinities, such focusing on building empathy and motivation and fostering self-awareness.

• The Handbook on Gender, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Disasters provides practical guidance to policymakers, response staff of the Disaster Management Centre and community groups to plan, coordinate, implement, monitor, and evaluate essential actions for a gender equitable disaster response. The handbook was created by the Disaster Management Centre, Sri Lanka with the financial support of the Australian Government.

• Harmony Alliance has developed a 2016 Census and Settlement Database brief to provide an understanding on migrant and refugee women's diversity in Australia and identify some of the challenges they face with a focus on the impact of English proficiency.

• Safe and Equal and the Expert Advisory Panel have developed a series of resources and templates to support other services and organisations in their engagement with survivor advocates. Safe and Equal has also released an issues paper, seeking to define and explore different sources of lived experience which inform the work of the family violence sector.

• As part of the Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA) LEAD project, WWDA has developed a fact sheet to support women, girls, feminine identifying, and non-binary people with disability in understanding, applying for and navigating the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

• The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has uploaded a website article Family, domestic and sexual violence containing facts and data, drawing from a range of statistics and research.

• Harmony Alliance has developed a grant writing guide which includes the steps to prepare grant proposals, what a proposal should consist of, and a practical example. 

• The Victorian Women’s Trust has launched Rural Women Online for women living and working in rural and remote Victoria. The program is designed to provide online help with computers, phones, and the internet, and is also a place to learn new digital skills, find a nearby workshop, access technical support, and sign up to be mentored.

• Our Watch and Senior Rights Victoria have produced a new resource for practitioners seeking to build their knowledge and practice on preventing violence against older women.

• Safe Ireland has launched a new safety guide titled Supporting Women: Responding to Technology-Facilitated Domestic Abuse.  The booklet has been developed as a tool for frontline domestic-abuse responders to enable them to support women who are victims of technology-facilitated abuse.

Media

• ABC News asks Why are millions of Australians still living in poverty? Experts say it's solvable.

• The Guardian reports Australian census data confirms everything millennials suspected about boomers and the lottery of life.

• SBS writes Job loss, trauma, isolation: COVID hit some people more than others. Were you among them?

• The Guardian discusses The Coalition scoffed at the idea of a wellbeing budget. But Australians want Jim Chalmers to deliver.

• The Guardian writes ‘They can’t ignore us any more’: five women on long Covid and medical misogyny.

• Women’s Agenda writes Men must prioritise flexibility as highly as women if we’re to achieve true workplace equality.

• The Guardian discusses ‘They said: aren’t you that porn star?’ The woman hunting down image-based abuse.

• The Conversation asks Could the Senate inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and children prevent future deaths?

• The Conversation writes Australian women are more educated than men, but gender divides remain at work.

• Listen to ABC’s Let us in! on "I'm proud of who I am, just as I am" Why disability pride matters including Kurt Fearnley.

• The International Press Institute writes Gendered attacks on independent investigative journalists in Romania. ‘She’s a woman. She’ll get scared’.

• Rolling Stone writes on The Ongoing Fight Against Femicides and Violence Against Women in the Caribbean.

• Read an interview with Sandra Jovanović Belotic, Training and Capacity Building Manager at the European Network for the Work with Perpetrators, focusing on survivor safety and well-being as central to high-quality perpetrator work.

• Worldcrunch reports So He Wanted To Get Pregnant — The Story Of A Trans Dad Ready To Give Birth.

• Primer writes “We Will Not Be Silenced Anymore”: Three Iranian women on how they feel about the protests.

Surveys, submissions and grants

• Have you experienced tech-facilitated coercive control? Has a partner abused you using text messages or Facebook? Have they tracked you using GPS tracking apps? If you have experienced this type of abuse and sought safety and justice support, researchers from Monash, RMIT and WESNET would like to speak to you. Contact: [email protected]
  
• The National Council of Single Mothers and Their Children are conducting a Separated Women's Financial Safety Survey, which looks at single mothers’ post-separation finances, including how money might be used by their ex-partner to control or abuse.
• The Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre has launched a new survey examining the prevention of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces. The survey is open to all people aged 15 and over who have experienced or witnessed sexual harassment, and participants can go in a draw to win shopping vouchers.
• The Australian government has asked myGov users to participate in a survey designed to improve understanding on how to improve myGov.
• Harmony Alliance, Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) and National Ethnic Disability Alliance (NEDA) are conducting a survey on the experiences of women, girls, women identifying, and non-binary people with disabilities from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. The survey asks questions about your experiences with health care and disability support services in Australia and is available in Arabic, English, Mandarin, Nepali, Spanish, Swahili.
• The NSW Government is encouraging organisations to apply for the Access to Justice Innovation Fund, which provides one-off funding of up to $250,000 for innovative projects designed to improve the way legal problems are solved. Applications close on 28 October 2022.
• The ACT Government is calling for community feedback to change the way agencies communicate and support victims of domestic and family violence. Community consultation on the reforms is open until 31 October 2022 – via the YourSay page.
• Harmony Alliance is consulting with women from migrant and refugee backgrounds on their experiences and views of digital and technology-facilitated abuse and the gendered impacts of digitalisation. Sessions are being held on 3 November and 24 November 2022.
• The Australian Government is inviting feedback on the Consultation Draft of the National Principles to Address Coercive Control. An online survey is open until 11 November 2022.
• The Australian Senate has referred an inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report by 31 July 2023. The submission closing date is 11 November 2022.
• The Australian Senate has referred an inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report by 31 July 2023. The submission closing date is 11 November 2022.
• The Australian Government’s Employment White Paper (the White Paper) will provide a roadmap for Australia to build a bigger, better-trained and more productive workforce – to boost incomes and living standards and create more opportunities for more Australians. Comments are now invited on the terms of reference, closing on 30 November 2022.
• Now is the time to share your experience of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation with the Disability Royal Commission. Submissions close on 31 December 2022. Find more information on the DRC website.

Events

• A roundtable Understanding domestic violence and religion: Exploring how faith-based organisations can be part of the solution is to be held in-person in Melbourne or online on 28 October 2022.
  
• Victoria Women’s Trust is hosting a free online event Women Represent: Power, Politics & Making a difference on 31 October 2022, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm AEDT, with panellists including Fiona Patten MP and the Hon Jenny Macklin.
• The Queer Displacements is the first and only conference in the Asia Pacific (22 February 2023) designed to comprehensibly foreground protection and settlement challenges of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) forcibly displaced people. Proposals to present are now accepted before 1 October and there will be a number of scholarships available for LGBTIQ+ forcibly displaced people with applications open until 1 November.
• The Human Rights Commission is hosting the free online Annual Kep Enderby Memorial Lecture, delivered by the Attorney-General, The Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP on 3 November 2022 from 12:00pm – 1:30pm. The AG will speak to the Government’s commitments on human rights, anti-racism and reform, and will be followed by a panel discussion on online hate and the need for legislative reform.
• Bookings for seats and tables for this year's Adelaide White Ribbon Breakfast at the Adelaide Convention Centre on 23 November 2022 will be closing on 8 November.
• The inaugural Safer Girls Safer Women symposium is being held on 10 November 2022 in Canberra to discuss the development of a national framework and best practice guidelines for sexual health, respectful relationships and consent education for women and girls with a disability.

• On Friday 18 November at the University of Melbourne and online, the Melbourne Social Equity Institute is hosting a one-day conference exploring migration, refugee studies and statelessness.

Training and Further Education

• WESNET is offering Technology Safety Online Training for SADFV professionals, for dates and training descriptions please visit https://techsafety.org.au/training

• Next month, Our Watch is hosting two free training sessions for people who are new to the primary prevention of violence against women sector. The full-day training is on Tuesday 15 November and half-day training is on Thursday 17 November. Expressions of interest close on Monday 31 October.

• A free online course - Connectivity’s Concussion Short Course - has been designed in conjunction with the University of Tasmania to help further understanding of concussion including recognising the signs and symptoms, how to manage concussion, appreciate the pathways to recovery and how concussions can impact your everyday life.

• Harmony Alliance is collaborating with La Trobe University to support migrant and refugee women to start and further develop their careers through the Future Proof Career Development program. This free program will include educational, mentorship and networking resources.

• 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.
  

• 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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