Page 2075 - Week 06 - Thursday, 8 June 2017
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orders by supporting Canberrans through the court process and providing increased access to translating and interpreting services; assisting members of the public to apply for and obtain a family violence order by funding two new family violence order liaison officers at ACT Policing; and assisting victims escaping family violence with immediate expenses by delivering a brokerage and bond fund.
We are also testing innovative approaches, including two important family-centred programs to help families break the cycle of violence. Room4Change is now in operation. It is a therapeutic residential behaviour change program for perpetrators that also supports women and children to stay safely in the home, providing case management, group work and support programs. We are also delivering the justice reinvestment trial in partnership with Winnunga Nimmityjah, to deliver a family-focused approach to reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the justice system.
And in recognition of the important intersections between family violence and safety for children and young people, we have continued the important reforms by establishing a case analysis team with child and youth protection services, to provide independent advice on individual cases at key decision-making points and to inform training priorities and the development of new policies and procedures.
This year has also been a significant year of design and development for key initiatives. The Coordinator-General for Family Safety has been leading a whole-of-government and whole of community co-design process to help develop a family safety hub for the ACT. The intent of the co-design process is to ensure that front-line and client perspectives are central to the design of the family safety hub. That has meant being flexible to ensure that the process provides real opportunities for input and that people can see how their input is being used. Fifty people have participated in interviews about their experience of the system and the opportunities that they see for reform.
The coordinator-general is also leading work across government to improve the awareness, understanding and capability of our front-line workforce to respond to family violence. A whole-of-government strategy is being developed, to be delivered in 2017-18. In our approach to implementation this year, we have been prepared to be flexible and open to new ideas, to ensure that our commitments are delivered well, and to take advantage of new developments, thinking and best practice.
As I have said many times, we need everybody on board. Government alone cannot change how our whole community thinks and acts on this issue. We will continue to drive an “all-in” approach to this complex issue, and I am pleased that the community continues to embrace this approach.
There are many great things happening across our whole community that you will also see. Last week Canberra Milk made a $20,000 donation to the Domestic Violence Crisis Service. The ANU are currently undertaking work on gender equality towards eliminating sexual assault from its campuses and surrounding areas. And I am advised that they will be funding an officer from the Canberra rape crisis service on campus,
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