Next plan should stop violence before it starts

GEELONG-based organisations have welcomed the findings of a Parliamentary inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence but have stressed the importance of funding measures that will prevent the violence before it happens.

The bipartisan House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs started the inquiry in June 2020 and published its report earlier this month.

The committee made 88 recommendations to inform the development of the next National Plan to reduce violence against women and their children, due to start in mid-2022.

Women’s Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West chief executive officer Emma Mahony said the federal government should, as a first step, fully fund the existing National Plan.

“We have the right plan in place,” Ms Mahony said.

“The government also has Our Watch, which is federally funded and has a large amount of funding from Victoria, it is world-leading on the development of what causes this violence and how to prevent it; fully fund that.

“What we need is long-term, secure funding.

“Gender inequality is the soil that this violence grows in, and it’s long-term, sustained investment in primary prevention that will not only change the attitudes and the behaviours but also the workplace expectations, the roles and opportunities of men and women in workplaces, and create workplaces based on respect and equality rather than what we’re seeing in federal Parliament at the moment.

“Without the investment in primary prevention, we’ll never get there – it’s like the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. We can’t just keep waiting until women are in violent relationships until we respond.”

The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre chief executive officer Helen Bolton said the report outlined a “tremendous suite of recommendations” that highlighted a national, integrated whole-of-service-system response to preventing and responding to family violence.

“We commend the report’s focus on a whole-of-system response to family, domestic and sexual violence, and commitment to preventing this violence before it occurs,” Ms Bolton said.

“Primary prevention is the cornerstone of preventing violence and we are pleased to see this report highlight the importance of prevention.”

Several allegations of sexual assault and harassment in federal Parliament have sparked a surge of national community activism such as the recent March4Justice rallies, which included events in Torquay and Geelong.

Ms Mahony said it was amazing to see women and men taking to the streets to say no to violence, but more needed to be done.

“I’m 47 years old, I’ve never seen this in my lifetime; it is incredible. But candidly, it hasn’t equalled action – yet,” she said.

“What we need is decision-makers, organisations across the private sector and leaders to say ‘This matters, I am taking action’. And it’s not just Scott Morrison, we all have a role to play in this.”

People experiencing domestic violence should phone the national domestic family violence counselling service on 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) and Triple Zero (000) in emergencies.

If you or someone you know needs support, email The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre at [email protected] or phone 5222 4318. For support after hours, phone the Sexual Assault Crisis Line (24 Hours) on 1800 806 292 or Safe Steps (24 Hours) on 1800 015 188.