Recent evidence shows the scale of sexual violence against women and children in Australia has been severely underestimated. Family violence is a key driver.
Yet, young women are currently invisible in responses to such violence. Our research sought to understand why young women’s experiences are so overlooked. We found that young women have typically been sidelined in approaches to family violence, and need to be given specific regard in any strategies to address it.
Access to The Orange Door across Victoria continues to grow with two new access points officially opened in August.
Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Ros Spence opened the Hastings access point as part of the Bayside Peninsula network and launched the Echuca access point, which is an expansion of the Loddon Orange Door network. The additional sites provide further access to family violence support services for people in the Mornington Peninsula and Campaspe Shire. Statewide coverage of The Orange Door across Victoria will be completed by the end of 2022.
Family safety Victoria is surveying the family violence and sexual assault workforce throughout September to better understand workforce needs.
If you work in a role that provides services to clients of specialist family violence services (including services to victim survivors and perpetrators / people using family violence), sexual assault support services, Aboriginal family violence services and/or The Orange Door network, then we want to hear from you.
The survey should take no more than 15 minutes and does not need to be completed in one sitting. The survey is open until 5 October and is anonymous.
The fourth of seven Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor reports for 2021-2022 has now been published – Monitoring Victoria’s family violence reforms: Primary prevention system architecture
Sector expertise has long acknowledged that family violence and sexual harm often co-occur. Victoria has undertaken a substantial process of sector wide reform to improve services, responses, safety and prevention for those impacted by family violence. One of the components of this reform initiative is the implementation of co-located services for family violence and allied response agencies, including sexual assault services.
RMIT is being funded by Family Safety Victoria to research the experiences and support needs of these victim survivors, in order to inform the ongoing development of Victoria’s family violence response.
The RMIT research team are currently looking for support workers to take part in interviews on the intersections of family and sexual violence. We’re particularly interested in examples of coordinated services in this area. If you would like to participate, please read and complete the consent form below. For further information on the research project, contact:
Dr Anastasia Powell
Associate Professor Criminology & Justice Studies, RMIT University
+61 3 9925 3566
[email protected]
View the Participant Information Statement and Consent Form here
Supporting women’s financial safety
The Guide to prevention and action on financial abuse within the financial sector aims to support financial service organisations to better understand, prevent and address financial abuse. The guide includes user-friendly checklists and a set of principles to guide best practice and inform the prevention of and response to financial abuse within an organisation’s policies, processes, products, services and culture.
Over the last 10 years Djirra has seen an increase in technology-facilitated abuse, alongside an increased use of social media and electronic devices.
In response to this, Djirra’s new eSafety campaign #ThatAintLove focuses on tech-facilitated abuse in a family violence context, and aims to raise awareness of the impacts of this abuse on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
The campaign includes videos, posters and fact sheets and videos that are available to download. There are also street posters on display across Melbourne’s western and northern suburbs. Check out the campaign and resources here.
Today we launch the Men in focus practice guide, which offers practical steps to motivate men and boys to be part of creating a society that is safer, and more equal.
Following an extensive evidence review in 2019 that shows how harmful forms of masculinity contribute to driving men’s violence against women, our new guide aims to motivate and build rapport with men and boys.
Coercive control’ has risen in prominence as an issue in Australian society in recent years, particularly following the 2020 murder of Queensland woman Hannah Clarke and her three children at the hands of her estranged husband.
A research paper from the Victorian Parliamentary Library, ‘What is coercive control?’, explores the definition, prevalence, legislative frameworks and the arguments for and against criminalisation.