Women and Women’s Safety Ministerial Council Terms of Reference

The Council consists of Commonwealth, state and territory ministers responsible for women and women’s safety. Each jurisdiction is represented by a maximum of three ministers with portfolio responsibility for women, families and/or prevention of domestic, family and sexual violence.

The Council is co-chaired by the Commonwealth Minister for Women and the Commonwealth Minister for Social Services.

The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner is an ex-officio observer on the Ministerial Council.

Where agreed, members of the Council may invite expert advisers and other government ministers to participate in specific meetings or discussions, as appropriate.

Women and Women’s Safety Senior Officials Group:

The Council will be supported by a Senior Officials-level group with representatives from the Commonwealth, states and territories. Senior Officials may identify new and emerging priorities for the Council, develop and review papers and provide oversight of the delivery of Council agreed priorities.

The following working groups will sit below the Women and Women’s Safety Senior Officials that will work to implement the Council’s priorities. These groups will be:

Women’s Safety Jurisdictional Working Group

The Women’s Safety Jurisdictional Working Group will utilise the existing structure and membership of the Department of Social Services Jurisdictional Working Group which supports work on the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 (National Plan). The group will consist of Commonwealth and all state and territory officials responsible for women’s safety and will support Senior Officials Group by implementing decisions on women’s safety and support the implementation of the National Plan.

Gender Equality Jurisdictional Working Group

The Gender Equality Jurisdictional Working Group will consist of both Commonwealth and jurisdictional officials responsible for women’s policy, including workplace gender segregation. The Group will support Senior Officials in driving progress on a broad base of women’s policy issues and will support the Senior Officials Group by implementing decisions on gender equality and women’s policy.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Jurisdictional Working Group

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Jurisdictional Working Group will draw on existing partnerships or shared decision-making bodies for its membership and share advice from other relevant advisory bodies. The group will support the Senior Officials Group in driving the national policy agenda for family, domestic, and sexual violence and will work to progress the priorities of governments related to gender equality and eliminating violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, across both the First Action Plan 2023-2027, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan 2023-2025 and the upcoming First Nations National Plan.

Subject-matter specific Jurisdictional Working Groups

Subject specific working groups can be convened as needed to drive joint Commonwealth, state and territory activities and respond to emerging issues for timely delivery of advice and solutions. Membership will be determined by the Commonwealth lead on the subject matter, and may include government officials from relevant portfolios and subject matter experts. Subject specific working groups may also draw on the expertise of existing advisory committees or convene subject specific advisory committees when required.

The Council will meet a minimum of three times per annum via a mixture of virtual and face-to-face formats. Where agreed by the co-Chairs and on advice from members, extraordinary meetings may be scheduled.

The Council may also conduct work out-of-session as required (protocols discussed below).

Meeting agendas and papers will be distributed at least five business days prior to the meeting.

The Council will make joint decisions and agree on common principles, however there will be flexibility in implementation across the jurisdictions to account for each jurisdiction’s unique circumstances.

Where possible, decisions should be consensus based. Where consensus or resolution cannot be reached on an agenda item within the established timeframe, consideration will be given to progressing an item through agreement between the Commonwealth and smaller groups of States and Territories.

The operations and decision making of the Council will adhere to National Cabinet’s Guidance for Intergovernmental Meetings.

All jurisdictions will be invited to propose agenda items for consideration by the co-Chairs. These items must be submitted to Council Secretariat no later than six weeks (45 calendar days) prior to the relevant meeting, with the exception of urgent or emerging issues.

The Council will consult and collaborate as appropriate with other Ministerial Councils, including the Data and Digital Ministerial Council, Skills and Workforce Ministerial Council, and the Council on Federal Financial Relations (CFFR). This will enable collaborative work and ensure alignment of priorities, noting that gender inequality and women’s safety issues intersect across multiple portfolios.

The Ministerial Council will also coordinate with the Standing Council of Attorneys-General (SCAG) in relation to work on women’s safety. Under the Work Plan to Strengthen Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Assault 2022-27, all state and territory governments have committed to take collective and individual action to improve the experiences of victim-survivors of sexual assault in the criminal justice system. The Commonwealth, state and territory governments are working together to implement the National Principles to Address Coercive Control.

Where a decision needs to be made out of session, the Council Secretariat will circulate a decision brief to all Ministers seeking their unanimous endorsement, approval, agreement or noting of the relevant matter.

Ministers will endeavor to return their votes within 15 business days. The Council Secretariat will circulate written confirmation the item has been endorsed, approved, agreed or noted.

Council Secretariat will maintain a list of all items progressed out of session, and will provide an update at each Council meeting.

National Cabinet has tasked the Council with a productivity priority to increase gender balance across the labour market, through the identification of appropriate targets to promote gender balance across the most highly gender segregated industries, and consideration of how procurement can support gender equality outcomes. The Council will bring forward recommendations to National Cabinet on this priority.

The Council will also support implementation of the National Cabinet’s commitment to provide public sector workforce data on six Gender Equality Indicators to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).

In addition, the Council’s work will encompass, but not be limited to:

• implementation of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-32 (National Plan) through the development and delivery of the first five-year Action Plan under the National Plan, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan 2023-2025, and the National Plan Outcomes Framework 
• supporting the work of the CFFR on women’s economic outcomes
•  monitoring and responding to issues relating to women’s economic security and workforce participation, including the impacts of COVID-19
• collectively respond to emerging issues and evidence relating to women’s safety. 

The Council will consider the interactions and alignment between jurisdictions’ gender equality strategies and frameworks, including to inform the Commonwealth’s development/implementation of the National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality. The Council will also consider interactions and alignment with jurisdictions’ domestic, family and sexual violence strategies to inform future work to implement the National Plan.

The Council will annually review the agreed priorities outlined in the work plan to ensure the Council continues to meet its objectives. This will ensure that identified new and emerging priorities, informed by discussions at meetings, are reflected in the forward work plan.

The Council will report annually to National Cabinet on their priorities and annual work plans and on other key national priorities affecting women and women’s safety, as required.

To ensure the intergovernmental system remains focused on key priorities, the First Secretaries Group and National Cabinet will review the Council structure every two years. 

To facilitate review, the co-chairs of the Council will submit a summary of achievements of the previous year and the top priorities (maximum of five) for the upcoming year to the First Secretaries Group.

Members of the Council may request a review of the operations of the Council and/or the forward work plan at any time through a written request to the Secretariat. Any review of operations must be agreed to by the Council.