The National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children 2010 – 2020 (‘the First National Plan’) has brought together government and civil society efforts across Australia to reduce gendered violence. For the past 12 years, the First National Plan had established essential foundations for cohesive and effective work to reduce violence against women across sectors.

GEN VIC recognises that there is a range of factors driving violence against women and their children. In our work, GEN VIC has been focused on creating the necessary preconditions We have been working to prevent violence against women in Victoria by addressing the critical drivers of violence – such as gendered attitudes and behaviors. GEN VIC is writing this submission to contribute to shaping Australia’s National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children (‘the Second National Plan’).

Our submission is framed in response to the Department of Social Service’s Engage Survey questions. We include our analysis of each question and make recommendations informed by consultation with our members, desktop research along with our work in gender-equal economics, gendered violence, gender-equal decision-making, and gender-equal health.

We focus on the primary prevention of men’s violence against women since our works have been focused on addressing gender inequality that has been acknowledged as a key driver of violence against women. As part of our commitment to achieving gender equity, it is important for us to acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women have experienced intergenerational trauma as the result of colonisation and dispossession of their land, customary laws, traditions, and cultures – resulting further in entrenching gender inequity within this community.

While we acknowledge the success of the First National Plan, we believe there are opportunities to strengthen the Second National Plan by:

• Incorporating all forms of gendered violence, including rape and sexual assault, sexual harassment and gendered violence and online gendered cyberhate and abuse.
• Connecting gendered violence to colonialism and grounding violence prevention in the plan in achieving First Nation justice
• Focussing on the role economic insecurity plays in deepening experiences of gendered violence and exposing women to poverty across the life course, including homelessness
• Championing Gender Equality at a national level with a focus on improving accountability, monitoring and reporting
• Preventing violence before it starts with upstream investment and resourcing.