This week marked the release of the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission’s inaugural Yearly Report (see more). I had the opportunity to join sector colleagues in attending the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner’s address on the inaugural report on progress of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
Needless to say Commissioner Micaela Cronin did concede that marking progress on a fairly new Plan in the absence of fulsome datasets was not a realistic objective for this year’s Report. However, she was firm in her view that commitment to the National Plan and the commitment to achieving change across the myriad of stakeholders was well positioned for future objectives.
A lot was made in the media of the Commissioner’s comment that violence against women and children in Australia should be treated with the same degree of seriousness as terrorism. Out of context – this might seem extreme but what it is pointing to is the need to recognise the urgency, priority and resources that must be invested to ensure victim survivors (including children) are safe. Her message about ‘keeping eyes on men’ was also very strong as was the narrative about this being an issue that needed men to be involved – men needed to step up. I was struck, therefore, that while there were a small number of men in the room at the Commissioner’s address, all political leaders in attendance were women and only one out of the 8 or so journalists asking questions was a man. Radical change is required if we are going to bring men along on this journey.
Today, Robyn and I joined Relationships Australia and Uniting Vic.Tas on a panel to give evidence to the Parliamentary committee running the Inquiry into family violence orders. The inquiry has a particular focus on the intersection between family violence orders and the family law system and it was a great opportunity to share reflections from FRSA members on these points of intersection from a family law services perspective. We made an initial submission to the inquiry in July and yesterday lodged a supplementary submission, which provides more detail on these member reflections. As soon as the committee has formally accepted that second submission, we’ll make it available on our website.
Alongside family violence, the other service system with which the Family and Relationship Services sector has a strong connection with is the Child Protection System. I take this opportunity to remind readers that National Child Protection Week 2024 is coming up 1-7 September. There’s more information about the week and how to get involved.
