This section provides an overview of the proposed oversight arrangements for implementation of the Council’s Plan of Action and joint activity across the Australian Government, States, Territories and local governments.
Whilst the proposed oversight arrangements relate primarily to governments and their associated systems, the Council also proposes roles for the sector and the whole community in encouraging and assisting governments to make the necessary changes.
Council of Australian Governments
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is the peak intergovernmental forum in Australia. COAG comprises the Prime Minister, State Premiers, Territory Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA).
The role of COAG is to initiate, develop and monitor the implementation of policy reforms that are of national significance, and which require cooperative action by Australian governments293. The National Council is clear that sexual assault, and domestic and family violence, require a cohesive and cooperative response from all levels of government; and that given the complex nature of the issues and the requirement for multiple portfolios to collaborate for effective responses, that COAG is the most appropriate forum to take carriage of a national plan to reduce sexual assault and domestic and family violence.
In doing so, the Council proposes that COAG support the Plan of Action to address violence against women and their children, by driving implementation across the range of Commonwealth, State and Territory agencies. As part of this process, funding support will be required for a number of the initiatives that are recommended. Further effective linkages will need to be established and maintained between the Plan of Action and other key COAG reform agendas, including for example:
- the COAG Early Years Agenda incorporating the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s children;
- the COAG National Disability Agreement and related National Disability Strategy;
- the COAG Closing the Gap agenda and National Indigenous Reform Agreement;
- the COAG National Action Plan on Mental Health;
- the National Affordable Housing Agreement and the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness;
- the first national White Paper on homelessness: The Road Home: A National Approach to Reducing Homelessness.
The National Council recommends that COAG develop and agree to a national governance framework to drive the Plan of Action and effectively allocate the associated funding that will be required.
The National Council also recommends that a national council continue to play a role in providing advice to the Australian Government on ways to reduce violence against women and their children and on the implementation of the Plan of Action. The Council acknowledges that during its program of consultation, many voices called for representation from women with disabilities on the National Council, for representation from all States and Territories, and for more men to be appointed to the national council. The composition of any future national council is a matter for Government, but the National Council supports these calls for increased representation in the composition of any future council.
Ministerial councils
Commonwealth-State/Territory ministerial councils facilitate consultation and cooperation between the Australian Government and State and Territory governments in specific policy areas. The councils initiate, develop and monitor policy reform jointly in these areas, and take joint action in the resolution of issues that arise between governments. In particular, Ministerial Councils develop policy reforms for consideration by COAG, and oversee the implementation of policy reforms agreed by COAG294.
The work of a number of Ministerial Councils aligns with the issues of sexual assault, domestic and family violence, including:
- Ministerial Council for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Affairs (MCATSIA);
- Corrective Services Ministerial Conference (CSMC);
- Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG);
- Commonwealth-State Ministers’ Conference on the Status of Women (MINCO);
- Ministerial Council on Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA);
- Australian Health Ministers’ Conference (AHMC);
- Community and Disability Services Ministerial Council (CDSMC);
- Housing Ministers’ Conference (HMC).
The National Council proposes that COAG could give Ministerial Councils responsibility for implementing relevant strategies and actions of the Plan of Action. The proposed national governance framework would determine the particular roles and responsibilities of each Ministerial Council.
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Immediate and early implementation actions
The Council’s Plan of Action is given effect over its lifetime by the development, implementation and review of a series of three-year implementation plans. These three-year implementation plans provide the focused timeframe for the delivery of specific actions, which the Council envisages building on one another, and incorporating new information and activities as evidence emerges.
In developing its Plan of Action, the Council has identified 20 actions for immediate or urgent implementation. The Council believes that the implementation of these actions will directly benefit women and their children who experience sexual assault and domestic and family violence.
The Council has also identified an initial indicative set of 21 actions which could be implemented in the first three years of the Plan of Action. These actions were selected by determining whether they were:
- the initial step of a longer-term process;
- important actions to begin;
- actions governments were already progressing in part;
- actions which could be done readily;
- actions which fit with other key COAG or government agendas.
As an indicative set of early implementation actions, they do not preclude any government from bringing forward other actions which could be dealt with initially. Not all of these actions would necessarily be completed within the first three years: some may have timeframes that would continue in the second and/or third implementation plan. The proposed plan for the implementation of all actions follows.
Outcome 1: Communities are safe and free from violence
Strategies and actions required for urgent implementation to achieve this outcome are:
1.1.1 Develop a national primary prevention framework that draws on international and national evidence of the most effective strategies for preventing violence against women, and prioritises key settings and population groups in which to coordinate primary prevention initiatives and actions.
1.1.2 Establish a National Centre of Excellence for the Prevention of Violence against Women to lead thinking, broker knowledge, co-ordinate a national research agenda and data collection effort, provide a national and international primary point of contact and monitor and report on the impact of the Plan of Action.
1.1.3 For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, in particular in isolated and remote communities, increase access to appropriate housing to reduce overcrowding and the incidence of sexual assault and family violence that may arise from such situations.
1.3.1 Recognising that most men are not violent towards women, encourage them to take a role in countering such violence and promote understandings of, and support for, expressions of masculinities that are non-violent. For example:
- Increasingly target men and boys as agents promoting an end to men's violence against women (such as in the White Ribbon Campaign and programs in clubs and sporting and other organisations).
- Encourage men who play a leading role in the community, such as Members of Parliament, government officials, academics, business or community leaders, when making a public address, in addition to acknowledging the traditional owners of the land, to declare that they reject violence against women and their children in any form.
1.5.1 Include 'Communities are safe and free from violence' as the fifth Priority Goal under the Promoting and Maintaining Good Health National Research Priority.
Strategies and actions for early implementation (2009-2012) to achieve this outcome include:
1.1.4 Support local communities that take a stand against the excessive use of alcohol and other substances that exacerbate violence against women and their children, by anticipating flow-on effects and the need for additional services, and by creating a rapid response capability.
1.2.1 Increase opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women to share their understanding, experience and learnings about sexual assault and domestic and family violence with immigrant and refugee groups and create opportunities for them to learn from each other about ways to engage their communities in addressing attitudes and behaviours leading to such violence.
1.3.2 Fund culturally-appropriate mediation and conflict resolution training for non-violent men and women in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to strengthen their role and influence in assisting to solve community and family disputes which occur as part of their everyday life.
1.4.1 Women’s Ministers, nationally, make representation to the Gender Pay Equity Inquiry and the Pensions Review, asking that the interrelationship between violence against women, lack of economic independence and gender inequality be considered as part of their reviews, and addressed within their recommendations.
1.5.2 Establish a minimum data set, including a data dictionary and standard protocols, to enable consistency and standardised data collection methods and analysis for sexual assault, domestic and family violence. This data set must be disaggregated by sex and segmented by marginalised groups (for example, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; culturally, linguistically and religiously diverse communities; and women with disabilities) wherever this is possible, and complemented by targeted research where disaggregation by marginalised group is not possible.
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Outcome 2: Relationships are respectful
Strategies and actions required for urgent implementation to achieve this outcome are:
2.1.1 As part of developing a National Primary Prevention Framework (preventing violence against women), build the capacity of the prevention education sector by researching and evaluating primary prevention outcomes, develop standards and indicators for best practice programs, and develop tools and information products to support programs in different settings.
2.2.1 Develop, trial, implement and evaluate educational programs, in a range of settings, based on best practice principles, for pre-schoolers, children, adolescents and adults that encourage respectful relationships and protective behaviours.
Strategies and actions for early implementation (2009-2012) to achieve this outcome include:
2.3.1 Recognise the additional challenges for parents and carers of children with disabilities and build on and target early childhood resources, programs and services, including respite, to assist with developing and maintaining respectful relationships.
Outcome 3: Services meet the needs of women and their children
Strategies and actions required for urgent implementation to achieve this outcome are:
3.2.1 Governments at all levels support the full implementation of strategies concerning domestic and family violence in The Road Home: A National Approach to Reducing Homelessness and in Outcome 4: ‘Responses are just’ of this Plan of Action.
3.2.2 Audit crisis accommodation services to determine their accessibility and safety for all women experiencing violence, with a particular focus on rural women, girls and young women, older women, women with adolescent boys, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, women with disabilities, women with no income, immigrant and refugee women, and women with mental health, alcohol and/or drug dependence issues.
3.3.1 Following consultation with the sector, establish a professional national telephone and online crisis support service for anyone in Australia who has experienced, or is at risk of, sexual assault and/or domestic and family violence. The service should integrate and coordinate with existing services in all States and Territories, offer professional counselling, provide information and referrals, use best practice technology, link with other 1800 numbers, have direct links with relevant local and state services, and provide professional supervision and advice to staff in services in isolated and remote areas.
3.3.2 Provide funding to support a national network of locally developed healing centres and other emerging initiatives and support services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in urban, regional, rural, remote and isolated areas, to address their experiences of trauma and violence.
3.3.4 Ensure children who are living with, or have lived with, sexual assault and/or domestic and family violence do not have their safety, wellbeing, support and counselling needs compromised, and that all interventions are in accord with the safety and wellbeing of their mothers.
Strategies and actions for early implementation (2009-2012) to achieve this outcome include:
3.1.1 Develop and implement a well supported and funded workforce strategy to support the attraction, recruitment, retention, development of and succession planning for staff working in sexual assault, domestic and family violence services. The strategy should address: recognition of the complexity and the true market value of the work undertaken in the fields of sexual assault, domestic and family violence; whole of workforce issues, including skills and qualifications, career pathways, training and development, networking and professional support; resourcing requirements, which are to be met as part of funding programs and services; and strategies to build the competency of people within communities (particularly rural and remote communities) to be engaged as the service providers.
3.1.2 Develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to acknowledge, support, train and reimburse community members who form the informal helping system for women and their children experiencing domestic and family violence, with the early focus for support and investment towards the helpers at the front-line in rural, remote and isolated communities.
3.1.3 Ensure that all undergraduate students enrolled in law, medicine, social work and relevant allied academic courses, undertake compulsory course work covering the nature and dynamics of sexual assault and domestic and family violence, and relevant law.
3.3.3 Explore best practice, develop responsive models and increase funding to women’s domestic and family violence services to enhance responses to children affected by domestic and family violence, especially in relation to strengthening the mother-child relationship in the aftermath of violence.
3.3.5 Ensure adult survivors of child sexual assault, domestic and family violence have access to counselling, court support and practical assistance whenever they choose to disclose their past experiences of violence.
3.3.6 Provide access to funding schemes for women with disability to enable them to control and manage who is employed to provide care and support for them in their home.
3.3.7 At every point in the service and justice system, ensure services are adequately funded to provide professional interpreting to victims/survivors who are not confident in their English language competency.
3.4.1 Develop a national evaluation approach to assess the effectiveness of service responses to women and their children who have experienced violence, including women with disability living in a range of settings (at home, in the community and in supported residential accommodation).
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Outcome 4: Responses are just
Strategies and actions required for urgent implementation to achieve this outcome are:
4.1.1 The Australian Government takes leadership to ensure the impending United Nations Convention on Victims Rights (expected in 2011) fully reflects the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and principles of other human rights conventions, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Australia has ratified.
4.2.1 Establish a reference for the Australian Law Reform Commission to examine present State/Territory domestic and family violence, and child protection legislation, and federal family law, and propose solutions to ensure that the inter-relationship in the application of these laws works to protect women and children from violence.
4.3.1 Establish a mechanism that enables automatic national registration of domestic and family violence protection orders and subsequent variations, adaptations and modifications occurring anywhere in Australia or New Zealand; and consider the need to include police-issued domestic and family violence orders on the national register.
4.3.2 Establish or build on emerging homicide/fatality review processes in all States and Territories to review deaths that result from domestic and family violence so as to identify factors leading to these deaths, improve system responses and respond to service gaps. As part of this process ensure all information is, or recommendations are, centrally recorded and available for information exchange.
Strategies and actions for early implementation (2009-2012) to achieve this outcome include:
4.3.3 Strengthen the application of the legislation governing ouster/exclusion orders by: highlighting in the legislation, and/or on protection order application forms, the availability of the ouster/exclusion order provisions; ensuring the provisions are cross-referenced with relevant tenancy law; and including this aspect of the legislation in professional development for police, lawyers, court staff and judicial officers; and undertake research to identify the most effective legislative and policy responses for increasing the appropriate utilisation of ouster/exclusion orders.
4.3.4 Review all State and Territory sexual assault legislation to ensure it:
- includes a definition of consent that applies a 'communicative' model through defining consent as 'free agreement' or 'free and voluntary agreement';
- includes a list of vitiating circumstances under which free agreement cannot be said to have been given;
- limits the extent to which an accused can claim to have held an honest, though unreasonable, belief in consent, thus restricting the availability of mistaken belief defences;
- ceases the artificial separation of court hearings involving multiple victims of the same offender.
4.4.1 Develop and implement a national education and professional development framework that recognises the specific roles and functions of: police; prosecutors; defence counsel; family and migration lawyers; legal advisers; court staff and the judiciary. This professional development must be designed with these specific audiences in mind; be informed by research on the social context within which violence against women and children takes place; emphasise the diversity of experiences and needs of victim/survivors of violence in the community; and enhance understanding of the intent and operation of relevant legislation.
Outcome 5: Perpetrators stop their violence
Strategies and actions required for urgent implementation to achieve this outcome are:
5.1.1 Fund and develop a correctional facility-specific domestic violence behaviour change program to be tested in Australian prisons.
5.2.1 Support remote communities to agree to develop alternative places to which men are able to go, or be taken to, at the earliest point that violent behaviour or its precursors are exhibited.
5.4.1 Fund and deliver a perpetrator research agenda, including longitudinal research that has a particular focus on: what changes problem behaviour; what maintains behaviour change; the utility of risk assessment tools; the effectiveness of various recidivism reduction strategies; and takes account of different offender characteristics and cultures.
Strategies and actions for early implementation (2009-2012) to achieve this outcome include:
5.1.2 Fund a national conference every two years to share information on what works with regard to perpetrator services and programs, and develop communities of practice.
Outcome 6: Systems work together effectively
Strategies and actions required for urgent implementation to achieve this outcome are:
6.1.1 Commonwealth, State, Territory and local government agencies work collaboratively to develop policy, planning and service delivery responses for sexual assault, domestic and family violence; and establish performance reporting measures that recognise and encourage collaborative achievements and identify fragmented delivery of programs and/or services.
Strategies and actions for early implementation (2009-2012) to achieve this outcome include:
6.1.2 Support and/or establish community partnership planning mechanisms that enable communities and services to prioritise need, address gaps and unnecessary duplication in service provision, and contribute to the development of policy, planning and delivery at the local level.
6.2.1 Support and/or develop information sharing systems and protocols between all organisations in response to sexual assault and domestic and family violence, that give primacy to the safety of women and their children.
6.3.1 Further develop risk assessment tools that assess the danger that women and their children may be in, in order to guide service responses and perpetrator management.