Policy positions
and analysis

We work to ensure that Victoria’s response to family violence and prevention of violence against women is informed by specialist practice expertise, research and evidence, and lived experience.

In this section, you can find a collection of our policy positions and analysis on a range of issues related to family and gender-based violence. You can view our policy positions and analysis below.

October 2024

Informed by the knowledge and expertise of our members, our Advocacy Priorities are designed to help Safe and Equal focus and articulate our position and relevant asks on a range of issues which we have consistently heard from members are the most critical and pressing issues to be addressed.

October 2023

Victim survivors in rural and regional areas face unique barriers to accessing safe and appropriate housing, in addition to those present in metropolitan areas. Developed in consultation with our regional and rural member services, this statement outlines the distinct challenges victim survivors face in regional Victoria, and recommendations to address these. This statement was sent to the Victorian Minister for Housing, Harriet Shing, on 13 October 2023.

August 2023

Safe and Equal recognises the power and ongoing resilience of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in their drive toward justice and equality. We acknowledge the more than 60,000 years of custodianship and continuing connection to this continent, and the enduring culture and knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Safe and Equal supports the call for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament through the lens of self-determination. We stand in solidarity and seek to be authentic allies to First Nations peoples, including towards the next steps of the vision around truth and treaty.

4 April 2022

In the 2022-23 Budget, the Federal Government has committed $1.3 billion to fund the next National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children. While this is welcomed, the budget lacks any clear strategy or detail for how these initiatives will be coordinated.

Safe and Equal has prepared this response to the 2022-23 Budget, detailing what areas and initiatives the Federal Government has committed to fund, what gaps exist, and what is required to achieve meaningful and lasting change for victim survivors of family violence.

Until we see a budget that truly addresses the drivers of family and gender-based violence, as well as the systemic barriers that prevent victim survivors from accessing support and recovery options, nothing will change.

This section includes statements and responses developed by Domestic Violence Victoria (DV Vic) prior to merging with Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria (DVRCV) to form Safe and Equal.

11 May 2021

A whole-of-system approach is required to improve responses to coercive control and ensure all victim-survivors can access safety and support, regardless of whether they engage with the justice system.

In this position paper, DV Vic and DVRCV have identified immediate actions that can be taken to improve understanding of and responses to coercive control across the broader family violence system.

11 February 2021

On 24 November 2020, the Victorian State Budget 2020–21 was released with a strong focus on people and communities, setting Victoria on the road to recovery post-COVID-19. Delivering on its promise of “keeping women and children safe”, the state budgeted $238 million to support victim survivors of family violence and their families. There was a specific focus on multi-agency information sharing and perpetrator accountability programs. Some of the new funding initiatives in the budget included investment in the social housing infrastructure and training for the sector.

DV Vic prepared this brief summary of the budget measures that are relevant to the specialist family violence service sector, the broader community services sector that intersects with family violence, and to the critical work of progressing gender equality.

27 October 2020

Like many others in the family violence and community services sector, we were disappointed that the Federal Government has not done more in the latest budget to support vulnerable members of our community who have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, including victim survivors of family violence.

27 October 2020

This paper communicates to government and other key stakeholders the position of the specialist family violence sector arising from the implementation of the five establishment hub sites and three incoming sites. It is also a tool for advocacy at the local, regional, and statewide levels.