Page 1329 - Week 04 - Thursday, 12 April 2018
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social, cultural or economic situation and can have devastating consequences. In Australia, on average, eight women a day are hospitalised following an assault by their partner or spouse, and on average one woman per week is killed by her current or former partner.
The 2016 personal safety survey identified nationwide intergenerational risks, with around one in three women who experienced abuse before the age of 15 experiencing partner violence as an adult. These women were nearly three times more likely to experience partner violence as an adult than women who had not experienced abuse before the age of 15. These statistics are distressing. The response to family violence is complex and relies on law, policy and service delivery. I also acknowledge that attitudinal changes are needed in our community to reduce the incidence of domestic and family violence, and this will take time.
As part of the ACT commitment to the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children 2010-22, the ACT developed the ACT prevention of violence against women and children strategy 2011-17. The strategy was applied through two implementation plans and concluded in December 2017. The strategy is a whole-of-government and community response to violence against women and their children. Its four primary objectives focused on developing an anti-violence culture, supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children to be safe in their communities, providing joined-up services and systems, and ensuring that men who use violence are held accountable and are supported to change their behaviour.
In 2016, $21.42 million was committed to the safer families package, which represented the single largest spending and policy commitment to address family violence in the ACT’s history. This also was the first time that there was such a dedicated, interconnected whole-of-government and across-community commitment to address domestic and family violence. The 2017-18 budget allocated an additional $2.2 million to help address family violence, bringing the safer families package to $23.5 million over four years.
However, we know that funding alone is not the solution. Real changes require strong leadership. Through a whole-of-government approach, a broad reform agenda is underway. It is an agenda that strives to engage the whole community in achieving zero tolerance to domestic and family violence in the ACT.
The reform agenda is supported by the establishment of the first ACT Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence and the first Coordinator-General for Family Safety. The office of the Coordinator-General for Family Safety, with its dedicated safer families team, is uniquely positioned to drive cultural change and lead reform, in partnership with government agencies, non-government services and the Canberra community. Our commitment is to build on a system that is person and family centred, that builds confidence so that more people seek help, and that identifies and supports families at risk early, before the violence escalates.
In the first three years of the strategy, both the government and the community sector progressed actions under the first implementation plan. Key initiatives under that first implementation plan included the continuation of the family violence intervention
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