As the peak body for specialist family violence services, this submission will focus solely on the issue of the timing of the introduction of the regulations, that FSV/DFFH should be bound by regulations through their operation of the Orange Door and the difficulty for services to determine costs when the compliance regime is unlikely to be established until well into the first half of 2024.

In addition to the feedback provided in our submission, Safe and Equal also endorses the recommendations in the following submissions:

1. Submission on Draft Regulations and Regulatory Impact Statement for Social Services (VCOSS)
2. Submission in response to the Draft Regulations and Regulatory Impact Statement for social services (NGO representatives of the Social Services Regulations Taskforce)
3. Djirra_Social Services Regulatory Scheme submission 11 July 2023.

The housing crisis in Victoria is putting enormous pressure on many people in the community – particularly those experiencing or at risk of family violence. The current lack of affordable housing options inhibits victim survivors’ safety and recovery as they continue to face uncertainty and the risk of homelessness when considering whether or not to leave abusive partners.

Homelessness and family violence are inextricably linked, with family violence the leading cause of homelessness for women and children in Australia. Homelessness as a result of family violence often leads to a lifetime of disadvantage, discrimination and poverty. This is particularly true for children, as research demonstrates that children who experience homelessness are more likely to experience homelessness as adults. All victim survivors of family violence deserve a safe place to call home, and the current housing affordability crisis is forcing victim survivors to choose between violence and homelessness.

While recommendations on how to manipulate the housing market to become more affordable is outside the scope of Safe and Equal’s expertise, we support calls to action related to this in the statement made by the Victorian Housing Peaks Alliance, of which Safe and Equal are a member. Within this submission, we have made recommendations to mitigate the effects of the housing affordability crisis on victim survivors of family violence to make the vision of all victim survivors of family violence having a safe place to call home a reality.

Allen and Clarke are appointed to undertake the legislated review, which aims to:

• assess whether the approved framework reflects the current evidence of best practices of family violence risk assessment and family violence risk management. 
• recommend if any changes are required to ensure the approved framework is consistent with those best practices. 

The MARAM framework, practice guides and associated tools have resulted in improvements in risk assessment and risk management practice across the service continuum. Our member consultations, historic and current work on MARAM have demonstrated that there remain opportunities to strengthen and amend them to truly meet current best practice.

Subequently, Safe and Equal’s submission outlines a number of recommendations relating to accessibility, intersectionality, working with children and young people, evidence-based risk factors, risk assessment and safety planning tools. We look forward to the outcome of this important review, to ensure victim survivors receive a best practice response wherever they seek support. 

The Family Law Council consultation sought to understand:

1. The extent to which the family law system upholds the rights of children and young people under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
2. Whether or not particular parts of the family law system manage the participation of children and young people effectively.
3. What, if any, changes would improve the way the family law system upholds the rights of children and young people.

Safe and Equal’s response was informed by consultation with member organisations, particularly Djirra, to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-specific issues were included. The points raised in our response reflect both Safe and Equal and Djirra’s concerns about the family law system, as well as those of other member organisations and stakeholders.

Based on feedback from victim survivors, our member services and other allied organisations, Safe and Equal does not believe that the Australian family law system meets its obligations and upholds the rights of children and young people under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Australian family law system does not provide space and mechanisms for children’s voices to be heard and considered in decision making processes.

The prevalence of family violence in family court proceedings has a major impact on children. Children and young people are victim survivors of family violence in their own right and can experience family violence directly or indirectly. Family law processes and decisions that expose children to a perpetrator of family violence, even if the violence has not been directly perpetrated against them, can have devastating impacts for children and their welfare. Therefore, decisions made about a child’s future must be safe and based upon family violence expertise and should afford substantially more weight to the wishes and feelings of children than current practice.

The foundations have been laid for a system where every person experiencing or at risk of family violence can access the support they need when they need it. But women are still waiting too long for the help they urgently need, families are still sleeping in unsafe motels, the specialist workforce is burning out, and the system is continuing to fail people and communities.

Victoria has led the way in redesigning responses to family violence, and we need continued investment to keep building a system that works, together.

It is only through continued investment that the Victorian Government can realise the ambitious vision set by the Royal Commission into Family Violence. In particular, we are calling for a focus in this year’s State Budget on:

1. Increasing sustainable funding for the specialist family violence sector to meet demand
2. Growing, developing, and retaining specialist workforces
3. Eliminating the impossible ‘choice’ between violence and homelessness
4. Addressing key gaps and barriers in the expanding family violence system
5. Investing meaningfully into primary prevention.

We all want to see Victoria continue to create a family violence system which gives victim survivors a voice, a home, and a timely and clear pathway to recovery.

Our work together is not done. We call on the Victorian Government to invest in the areas we have highlighted throughout this submission. Through continued investment, collaboration and action, we can create a world where family and gender-based violence does not exist.

Safe and Equal welcomes the focus of the White Paper on a sustainable care industry alongside women’s economic participation, experiences of the labour market and the challenges of ensuring women have equal opportunities and equal pay. There are two foremost components to this submission: the first is, the financial policy approaches required for a sustainable and specialised family violence workforce; and the second is, economic strategies required to tackle issues flowing from the gendered nature of the specialist family violence workforce.

We understand that this review is primarily focused on reviewing Parts 5A and 11 of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (the Act), and that this encompasses the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme (FVISS), the Central Information Point (CIP) and the Multiagency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) framework. As non-legal experts, our capacity to comment specifically on the Act is limited. However, as the peak body for specialist family violence services in Victoria and given our specific involvement in the MARAM and Information Sharing Sector Capacity Building Grants, we are in a unique position to comment on the extent to which the intention of the legislation is being realised through implementation and practice. We are also well placed to identify the emerging issues and barriers to successful implementation of the Act and where there are opportunities for improvement.

In preparing this submission, we have widely consulted with our members, including managers and senior practitioners working in The Orange Door sites, Disability Practice Leadership and the Risk Assessment Management Panel (RAMP) community of practice. Safe and Equal hold funding from the MARAM and Information Sharing Sector Capacity Building Grants. The expertise and knowledge of Safe and Equals MARAM and Information Sharing Advisor, the associated community of practice, and the historic knowledge of the reforms held by Safe and Equal member organisations and staff also inform this submission.

We heard consistently through our consultations that the family violence reforms, and in particular the MARAM framework and FVISS have provided a valuable authorising environment and common language for consistent and collaborative practice. However, it is a challenging task to effectively differentiate between the efficacy and impact of the legislation and the implementation of this legislation which is supported by practice guidance, frameworks and tools. Despite these challenges, we know that inconsistent implementation and interpretation of the legislation results in failure to realise the intent of the reforms.

With this in mind, this submission is structured around main themes which emerged from consultations with our member organisations and communities of practice regarding strengths and challenges of aligning to and implementing the MARAM and FVISS, as well as engagement with the legislation itself. These themes include the critical need to centre the voices and experiences of victim survivors from marginalised communities to ensure that the system is safe for everyone, implementation and finally the interface between the Act and other legislative and systemic frameworks. Within each theme, we highlight strengths and challenges and make recommendations for potential improvements and further investigation.

The majority of women and gender diverse people in prison are survivors of violence and trauma (experienced either in childhood or as an adult) and up to 70% of women in prison are parents. Victoria is experiencing a dramatic and unacceptable increase in the number of women being incarcerated (137.82% over the previous decade), including a dramatic rise in the number of unsentenced women entering the prison system on remand (43% of the total number of women in prison in 2020). Women risk losing housing, employment and custody of their children while imprisoned. Even short periods of imprisonment due to remand can result in catastrophic implications for women and their children, furthering the legacy of family violence, trauma and structural disadvantage.

Concerted and urgent measures to address the drivers of women’s incarceration are required to stop Victoria’s “prisons functioning as a substitute for social and community infrastructure.

Housing, homelessness and family violence are inextricably linked. Family violence is one of the biggest drivers of homelessness and base funding for the specialist family violence sector is currently funded under the NHHA. In Victoria, the specialist family violence system has undergone significant reform following the Royal Commission into Family Violence in 2016. Despite unprecedented investment in the family violence system, unfortunately, housing outcomes for victim-survivors of family violence have not improved. Forty-seven percent of people seeking support from a homelessness service in Victoria do so due to family violence.

The NHHA is an important policy mechanism by which funding for social housing and homelessness services, including specialist family violence services, flows from the Commonwealth Government to the states and territories. It establishes that the Commonwealth and state governments have a mutual interest in ending homelessness and improving housing affordability. This and past agreements have been successful in providing critical resources to the homelessness sector, including specialist family violence services, and, to some extent, have been successful at growing and maintaining social housing stock. It is vital that we continue to have such agreements between the Commonwealth and state governments.

However, the desired outcomes of the NHHA have not been achieved. In fact, by most measures, things have gotten worse. It is therefore timely for the Productivity Commission to conduct this review. Within our submission, we make four recommendations on how to make the next and future NHHAs stronger and more effective. These are:

1. Develop a National Housing and Homelessness Strategy to sit above the NHHA,
2. Take a gendered approach to a National Housing and Homelessness Strategy and
   the NHHA,
3. Improve data collection relating to priority cohorts, specifically victim-survivors of
   family violence and those experiencing intersecting forms of marginalization, and
4. Increase the quantum of funding delivered through the agreement to truly meet
   demand for social housing and homelessness support services.

Housing, homelessness and family violence are inextricably linked. Therefore, as the peak body for specialist family violence services in Victoria, Safe and Equal has a special interest in making sure social housing meets the needs of victim survivors and supports their safety. Proper regulation is one mechanism to help achieve this.

The Panel has taken a broad view of regulation and the Interim Report touches on several topics outside of Safe and Equal’s remit and expertise. We therefore will not be commenting on every aspect of the Interim Report, but rather seek to share our thoughts on relevant proposals from a family violence perspective.

Safe and Equal commend the panel for a thoughtful interim report that is focused on fundamentally improving the way social housing is delivered and provided to social housing tenants. We look forward to continuing to work with Panel to ensure social housing regulation can produce the most positive outcomes for current, prospective and future social housing tenants, particularly those who are victim survivors of family violence.

National strategies are critical if we ever hope to comprehensively address our society’s most wicked problems. To reduce, and ultimately end, family violence and violence against women and children, we need all parts of our community and all levels of government to commit to tangible, measurable actions, and for these to be backed by dedicated funding.

In order to do this, we need a clear overarching vision, objectives, outcomes and targets.

The National Plan should articulate the roles and responsibilities for each level of government in addressing family violence and violence against women. It should identify the drivers of violence, and the systemic and structural barriers to accessing support and safety, and attribute responsibility for addressing these to the appropriate level of government. Concrete actions and targets should flow from this.

The National Plan must clearly articulate what the Commonwealth Government’s overall plan is to end violence against women and children, and this must include specifics. The National Plan must also articulate a mechanism for how progress will be measured and evaluated. The evaluation of the previous plan and consultation reports that informed the development of this draft have not been publicly released, so we are unable to comment on whether the draft accurately reflects and builds upon these learnings.

It is critical that the Evaluation Plan and Outcomes Framework mentioned in the draft are developed in consultation with the specialist sectors and people with lived experience, and that they are made public to ensure accountability for this plan’s implementation. The Commonwealth Government has committed to open and transparent engagement with victim-survivors and the community in developing this National Plan. We call on the Government to revise this plan to articulate a concrete plan forward for how we as a nation will address family violence and violence against women and children.

Given our central position in the Victorian family violence system, we are well placed to provide insights into the unique and complex experience of family violence for people with disabilities and the provisions victim-survivors need to access support and safety.

This submission will focus on the intersection between the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and specialist family violence services, as these are two service systems that victim-survivors with disabilities are likely to encounter if they report family violence or seek help.

This submission will outline the prevalence of family violence against people with disabilities and the need to embed a family violence and trauma-informed lens throughout the NDIS, before responding directly to section (b) in the Terms of Reference.

Whilst the significant amount of investment in improving Victoria’s family violence system following the Royal Commission is much welcomed, a range of complex factors are creating clear gaps and pressure points. These must be addressed immediately to ensure every victim survivor can access the support and safety they need at the time they need it.

In Victoria, specialist family violence services are not funded at a level that meets increasing demand. The lack of funding not only impacts victim survivors but also results in high levels of staff turnover and burnout, with extreme difficulties recruiting and retaining experienced staff.

If adequately funded, the focus areas outlined in our budget submission will enable the specialist family violence sector to respond to not just increasing levels of demand and client complexity but to a rapidly changing service environment stemming from the unprecedented level of government and systemic reform.