Page 749 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 21 March 2017
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Council’s review of domestic and family violence deaths in the Australian Capital Territory.
The ACT government accepted the recommendations from all of these reports. The safer families package has already seen the establishment of a full-time Coordinator-General for Family Safety who will be leading the work in this area, along with the appointment of the first ever minister directly responsible for the prevention of domestic and family violence—a position I am happy to hold.
The ACT government is also implementing the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children 2010-22 through the ACT prevention of violence against women and children strategy 2011-17—our responsibility: ending violence against women and children. The second implementation plan under the strategy will be concluding at the end of this year. I look forward to seeing how the ACT government’s work in this area has positively impacted on women in our community.
Our government acknowledges that gender inequality is at the core of the problem of violence against women, and so gender inequality must be at the heart of the solution. The ACT government is committed to acknowledging and celebrating the contribution of women, and one way that we do this is through the annual ACT Women’s Awards. This year’s awards were held on the eve of International Women’s Day, and we applauded the commitment from three amazing Canberra women—Marie-Louise Corkhill as ACT Woman of the Year, Andrea Hotchkiss as Senior Woman of the Year, and Francesca Maclean as Young Woman of the Year.
In 2016 the ACT Violence Prevention Awards were held. These awards were previously known as the Partners in Prevention Awards. Recipients of the awards were celebrated for their work in media, sports, the private sector, the community sector and education. These awards further help to raise awareness of domestic and family violence and the need for a united approach involving the whole community.
The ACT women’s grants provide funding for initiatives that improve the safety, status and wellbeing of women and girls in the ACT. Through the 2016-17 grants program, the ACT government will invest up to $180,000 to support innovative projects which will lead to positive outcomes for women and girls. Further, the ACT government supports young women in our community through the Audrey Fagan Churchill Fellowship and enrichment grants.
The ACT government strives to achieve gender equality on boards and committees, a strategy which is critical in ensuring the voices of women are heard in government and in our community. Our strategies continue to be successful and we are leading all other states and territories, with women making up 48 per cent of the membership on boards and committees in the ACT where the ACT government can influence appointments. This represents a four per cent increase in just two years.
Domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness for women in the ACT and, over coming months, we will progress a number of commitments to housing and homelessness which will benefit women, including the development of a new housing
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