Advocates weigh in on new plan for ending violence against women

Australian women are being put at risk of serious harm. Now, a major plan years in the making aims to solve the insidious problem.

Women’s safety advocates hope a new plan to deal with violence against women and children will be signed off on as soon as possible – but they have a few caveats.

The plan is back in the spotlight as the federal ministers responsible for women’s safety prepare to meet with their state and territory counterparts in Adelaide on July 22.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has said the meeting is pivotal for reaching an agreement on the new 10-year national plan to end violence against women and children.

Full Stop Australia CEO Hayley Foster says the plan needs to have ‘ambitious, achievable’ targets. Picture: Supplied

The plan, which has been in the works for more than 12 months, will be broken up into two five-year action plans and two five-year Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander action plans.

It will replace the last plan which expired on June 30 after covering a 12-year period.

Safety advocates who have been working on the new strategy behind the scenes are yet to see the most up-to-date draft, but they are hoping for some agreement on it to come out of the ministers’ meeting next week.

“We do need to get cracking; different states and territories are relying on getting this in place,” says Hayley Foster, chief executive officer of Full Stop Australia.

“The sort of things we want to see are a substantial improvement to Australians’ understanding of attitudes towards violence (and) a measurable target of Australians’ experience of safety in relationships.”

Ms Foster is also calling on the federal government to commit $1bn per year towards filling “black spots” in support services, starting in the October budget.

National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds says the new plan has to be good enough to make a difference. Picture: David Maurice Smith / Oculi

Women With Disabilities Australia executive director Carolyn Frohmader says she’s willing to wait a little longer to get the framework right.

“We need to make sure that those support services and prevention mechanisms and all those things are actually inclusive of everyone,” she said.

Ms Frohmader says she doesn’t want the new plan to be solely restricted to family violence in the “old sort of model” where it was understood only to occur between intimate partners.

“For example, there are particular forms of violence, (that) predominantly affect women with disability and also First Nations women … that remain legal in Australia,” she said.

“So I’m talking about things like forced sterilisation, forced contraception, menstrual suppression, indefinite detention, other forms of reproductive rights violations (and) removal of children.”

Ms Frohmader added she would like to see overarching anti-gender-based violence legislation introduced to parliament to mandate the implementation of the national plan.

New Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth will meet with women’s ministers next week. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds says no plan would be perfect but the new one had to be “good enough to make a difference”.

“There’s got to be really measurable accountabilities in there to be really clearly accountable; it’s not just a wish list or aspirations, but actually putting evidence into action on the ground,” she says.

Ms Hollonds, who has consulted with families across Australia since being appointed to the commissioner role 18 months ago, says the solutions lay in “addressing the basics” such as income security and housing.

“I met many, many young mums who have babies and toddlers; they’ve left violent relationships and now they’re couch surfing or in caravan parks or on the streets,” she says.

“It’s really important that domestic and family violence is not seen in isolation of other social problems, other complex issues that people are dealing with in their families.

“And that’s where I think we need to see that cross system reform and that this plan can provide leadership for some of that cross system reform.”

If you or anyone you know is in need or crisis, please call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or Lifeline on 131 114.