In particular, we are heartened by the government’s clear commitment to putting housing at the centre of Victoria’s response to family violence, with the big housing build of nearly $5.3 billion, ensuring the availability of long-term social and affordable housing that will support families to recover from family violence. This significant investment is supported by extended funding for emergency accommodation options, and $18.2 million across two years to support case management in core and cluster refuges.

We are also pleased to see continued funding for flexible support packages of $87.3 million over four years.

While we welcome the announcement of further funding for the implementation of the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) framework and information sharing schemes, we know this will need to continue beyond the 12 months committed to today.

We look forward to working with government and our members to define specialist family violence service program requirements, to make sure implementation funding extends past 2021-22.

DV Vic and DVRCV also welcome the $8.2 million investment into building the family violence and sexual assault support workforces. However, we note that this is only a fraction of what is needed to grow and also retain the specialist workforce for an exhausted sector that continues providing services to victim survivors through the pandemic and beyond.

We look forward to engaging with the Victorian Government to ensure that additional funding for specialist family violence service delivery in the next budget, in order to respond to unrelenting and increasing demand, as well as to safeguard the health and wellbeing of this unique and specialist workforce.

We also welcome the government’s commitment to perpetrator accountability for family violence, with the promised investment of $10.7 million over four years.

We are pleased to see a focus on women’s employment and note women’s inclusion as a key group in the government’s economic recovery plans. Employment for women and all victim survivors escaping family violence is a critical element in their survival and recovery.

The Victorian Government continues to demonstrate leadership by investing in primary prevention. In particular, we welcome the further commitment of $37.5 million over four years to continue to deliver the Respectful Relationships initiative in Victorian schools, as well as $9.7 million over four years focused on preventing and responding earlier to family violence in multicultural and faith-based communities.

However, we are disappointed that more funding hasn’t been committed in this budget to prevention initiatives and the development of the prevention workforce. We know that the only way to stem the flow of family violence is to stop it from happening in the first place. Victoria is a world leader in this space and DV Vic and DVRCV look forward to working with the government to ensure this continues by providing additional funding in 2021-22.

Finally, we welcome extended funding of $1.6m for the Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor for the next two years. It is critical this role continues until the reforms have been fully implemented and the coordinated family violence system is operating as envisioned by the Royal Commission.

I came into the organisation in July 2020 as CEO of both DVRCV and Domestic Violence Victoria and am honoured to be leading both organisations through the transition process and into the future as a newly merged entity.

I would like to acknowledge outgoing CEO Emily Maguire’s leadership of DVRCV over the last five years. It’s abundantly clear that DVRCV would not be the organisation it is today if it wasn’t for Emily’s dedication and I look forward to building on her legacy as we move into a new chapter.

Perhaps the most exciting development this year was the Board’s decision to merge with Domestic Violence Victoria. I feel privileged to be leading this phase and am excited about the potential opportunities it provides both organisations to come together to maximise their impact and influence.

I’d like to thank the DVRCV Board who governed the organisation through this time, particularly outgoing Chair Debbie King for her wisdom and expertise during the merge exploration process while continuing to lead the ‘business as usual’ governance of a dynamic and growing organisation.

Of course, preparing to merge was just one of many priorities. This financial year also saw DVRCV forge ahead in key program areas. We experienced an increase in demand for MARAM training and received further funding to expand our work in primary prevention to support the needs of an ever-expanding workforce.

And we continued to support the sector through capability building activities.

• 3,440 participants attended training
• 267 training sessions delivered in person and online
• 8,353 print resources sold and distributed
• 5.9M visits to our websites

It goes without saying that COVID-19 has had the greatest impact not just on DVRCV but on us all. Whilst recognising its unparalleled challenges, particularly on the provision of services and support to victims of family violence during this time, the pandemic has provided us with new opportunities. None of these could have been harnessed without the commitment of our exceptional staff – all of whom have not only adjusted to working remotely during this period but have successfully adapted our professional development and capability building activities for the online environment.

I would like to extend my gratitude to DVRCV’s Board, the Senior Leadership Team, and the phenomenal women I have had the privilege of working with and getting to know these last few months.

I’m excited for the future of this new organisation that we are building together!

Tania Farha
CEO

DOWNLOAD THE ANNUAL REPORT

We’ve also published financial statements and an accessible Word version of the report on our Annual reports page.

The Domestic Violence Victoria Annual Report is available on the DV Vic website.