Safe and Equal responds to the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032

The new National Plan, running across 10 years from 2022 to 2032, is Australia’s united response to address one of our society’s most complex and critical problems.  

Ending family and gender-based violence – which is entirely possible – requires ongoing commitment, dedicated resources, and clarity of roles and responsibilities across all levels of government and throughout the community. A National Plan that recognises the importance of specialist service providers and professionals, one that promotes consistent standards and tangible, measurable outcomes to support and strengthen system capacity and capability in preventing and responding to family violence and sexual assault, is crucial. 

Significantly, the new National Plan clearly articulates the essential leadership role that specialist family violence services play in working with victim survivors and perpetrators, as well as building a robust evidence-base and informing policy development and system design. 

“Our specialist workforces are the frontline responders to the wicked scourge of family violence across Australia,” said Safe and Equal Chief Executive Officer Tania Farha. 

“Their expert understanding of the drivers, dynamics, risk factors and impacts of family violence is extremely nuanced and integral to effective, inclusive and trauma-informed responses to victim survivors.” 

“I have seen first-hand the impact these highly skilled professionals have on the safety and wellbeing of the victim survivors they support. It is crucial that all levels of government prioritise the sustainable resourcing of our sector, so they can continue to do this critical work,” said Ms Farha. 

The development of the second National Plan, which has involved consultation with specialist experts, allied sectors and people with lived experience, brings together approaches from all parts of our community and all levels of government to show that everybody has a role to play when it comes to eliminating family and gender-based violence. Importantly, the Plan also highlights the necessity of addressing the gendered drivers of this violence through targeted primary prevention initiatives. 

“Unless we address the underlying causes, we will continue to respond to the symptoms rather than stopping this violence from happening in the first place,” said Ms Farha. 

“We cannot eliminate violence in one generation without a concentrated focus on tackling the deeply ingrained attitudes, beliefs and structures that drives gender-based violence.” 

The second National Plan is a significant milestone in itself, but its implementation is where the hard work begins. We look forward to working collaboratively with governments, specialist services and with victim survivors to develop the first five-year Action Plan, which will set out in more detail what needs to happen to achieve these significant goals.

We have a real opportunity to change the course of our nation – let’s get to work. 

View the National Plan here.