Changing behaviours and attitudes leading to gender-based violence

76. In addition to addressing discriminatory stereotypes, the Government adopted measures to change behaviours and attitudes leading to high rates of GBV in Australia.
77. The Government provides national leadership and investment to end family, domestic and sexual violence including through National Cabinet.²⁶ The Government oversees the National Plan that delivers support for victim‑survivors. Australian governments are working together to strengthen and harmonise sexual assault laws, criminal justice responses to sexual assault, and cross-jurisdiction recognition of domestic violence orders.
78. The Government leads the 'Stop it at the Start' campaign, which aims to break the cycle of violence by encouraging adults to reflect on their attitudes and have conversations about respectful behaviours with young people aged 10‑17. The campaign's fifth phase was launched on 17 June 2024.
79. The Government invests $77.6 million over 5 years from 2023-24 to states and territories and non-government school sectors to deliver evidence-based, age-appropriate Consent and Respectful Relationships Education in Australian primary and secondary schools.
80. The Government invested $40 million over 4 years from 2021-22 for a new national consent campaign (launched May 2024), to better inform adults and young people about the importance of consensual and respectful relationships.
81. Implementation of the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030, includes measures to build awareness, education and child safe cultures to prevent child sexual abuse. The Government invested $22.4 million in 'One Talk at a Time' campaign to prevent child sexual abuse through adult education and preventative conversations with children, young people and adults.

Federal legislation on gender-based violence

82. Under Australia's federal system of government, states and territories are responsible for the majority of laws related to GBV, including the making of domestic violence orders and criminal offences. Each jurisdiction manages its own criminal justice system, including criminal laws, policing, courts and corrections. The Government is responsible for the Family Law Act, which has seen recent amendments to better recognise and respond to GBV, as well as the Criminal Code, which contains offences on forced marriage.
83. In 2022, Parliament passed the Fair Work Amendment (Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Act 2022 (Cth) providing employees, including casual employees, with an entitlement of 10-days paid FDV leave (accrued annually) to deal with impacts of FDV where it is impractical for the employee to do so outside work hours. The leave is paid at the employee's full rate of pay and employers are prohibited from including information about the leave on payslips, to respect confidentiality. Over 2023–24 the entitlement came into effect in 3 stages, depending on employer type, to cover all Australian employees.
84. The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Act 2023 (Cth) amended the Fair Work Actto make it unlawful for an employer to take adverse action against an employee or potential employee because they have been, or are being, subjected to FDV. The amendment requires the Fair Work Commission to consider the need to prevent and eliminate discrimination on the basis of subjection to FDV when performing functions or exercising its powers under the Fair Work Act.

Implementation status of the National Plan to End Violence against Women

85. The National Plan identifies 4 domains for action to end GBV in Australia: prevention, early intervention, response and recovery, and healing.
86. In August 2023, Australian governments launched the First Action Plan 2023-27, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan, and the Outcomes Framework. The Outcomes Framework details 6-10 year outcomes and 34 supporting sub-outcomes used to track and monitor progress over the life of the National Plan.
87. In September 2024, National Cabinet agreed a comprehensive package to prevent violence and homicides against women and children, and support legal services through the new National Access to Justice Partnership. National Cabinet agreed to maintain focus on missing and murdered First Nations women and children.
88. This brings the Government's investments in support of women's safety and the National Plan to $4 billion, since 2022.²⁷ It includes $925.2 million over 5 years from 2023–24 to establish the Leaving Violence Program which helps people experiencing intimate partner violence leave relationships, providing those eligible with access to up to $5,000 in financial support, referral services, risk assessments and safety planning.
89. Australia is one of 3 countries to have appointed a Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner (commenced October 2022), to provide evidence-based policy advice to the Government, promote coordination across jurisdictions and amplify voices of people with lived experience.
90. The Government has invested in frontline services for women experiencing GBV, extending the National Partnership on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses and funding 500 frontline service and community workers, with support targeted to women and children in rural, regional and remote areas, Indigenous people, CALD communities, women with disability, and the LGBTIQA+ community.
91. Despite significant investment in human, technical and financial resources, the Government recognises more must be done to eliminate GBV.
92. On 15 August 2024, the Australian Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee delivered its report on missing and murdered First Nations women and children. The report, inter alia, calls for harmonisation of police best practice to ensure all interactions with Indigenous people include standards of cultural awareness and safety. Australian governments will work in partnership with Indigenous communities to consider implementation of the report's recommendations.

Prevention and early intervention

93. Prevention programs include:
    • In 2022-23, the Government invested close to $185.8 million for early intervention programs including specialised family violence services, nationally accredited training for frontline workers, counselling services for men who use violence, and programs to support children and adolescents who have experienced FDV.
    • The Government committed $8.5 million from 2023‑24 to 2026-27 for further early intervention initiatives, including extending the MensLine Changing for Good Service and developing a national directory of services for people perpetrating violence, to improve uptake of intervention services.
    • The Government invested $10 million to expand the family violence provisions within the Migration Regulations 1994 to most permanent visa subclasses. The family violence provisions aim to ensure visa applicants do not feel compelled to remain in a violent relationship for a permanent visa outcome.
    • The Government committed a further $6.1 million in 2024-25 to provide ongoing funding for the specialised visa support service for victim-survivors of FDV. The service assists visa holders experiencing family violence to regularise their visa status.
    • In September 2024, Australian governments agreed initiatives to better identify high-risk perpetrators, share information across jurisdictions, and intervene earlier to stop violence escalating, including:
      1. national best-practice FDV risk assessment principles and model best-practice risk assessment framework;
      2. enhancements to National Criminal Intelligence Systems enabling information sharing across jurisdictions to assist police responding to high-risk perpetrators;
      3. increase nationally-consistent, information sharing between family law courts and state and territory courts, child protection, policing and firearms agencies;
      4. strengthen system responses to high-risk perpetrators to prevent homicides, trial deterrence models and Domestic Violence Threat Assessment Centres. Centres to use intelligence, monitor individuals and intervene with those at high risk of carrying out homicide.
    • NSW Strategy for the Prevention of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence 2024-2028 sets out frameworks to address underlying attitudes, social-norms, practices and structures that tolerate/condone violence against women and children.
    • QLD's Plan for the primary prevention of violence against women 2024–2028, a 5 year plan to address drivers of violence against women and prevent domestic, family and sexual violence from occurring.
    • SA Royal commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence was established to explore prevention, early intervention, responses, recovery and healing and coordination across government and non-government agencies.

Implementing findings of the National System for Domestic and Family Violence Death Review report

94. Australian governments implemented several reforms related to findings from AHRC's 2016 report following the National System for Domestic and Family Violence Death Review.
95. The Outcomes Framework under the National Plan includes a target to reduce the number of women killed by their intimate partners by 25% each year.
96. The National Homicide Monitoring Program delivered by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) is Australia's national data collection on homicide incidents, victims and offenders. On 26 June 2024, the Government introduced a national statistical dashboard, providing timely reporting on female victims of intimate partner homicides. The dashboard will produce quarterly updates.