NTCOSS Submission to the

Draft National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032

February 2022

Northern Territory Council of Social Service (NTCOSS)

The Northern Territory Council of Social Service (NTCOSS) is the peak body for the Northern Territory (NT) Community and Social Services Sector and is a voice for people affected by social and economic disadvantage and inequality. The Community Sector in the NT is made up of community managed, non- government, not-for-profit organisations that work in social and community service delivery, sector development and advocacy. The Community Sector plays a vital role in creating social wellbeing for all Territorians and in building safe and healthy communities by providing services that enable people to access and participate in health services, education, employment, economic development, and family and community life.

All people have the right to live a life free from violence, and NTCOSS is a strong advocate for putting an end to all forms of domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV) in our communities and working to address the related social harms. NTCOSS advocates for and with the specialist DFSV service sector in the NT to improve safety, wellbeing, economic and social justice outcomes for women and their families.

NTCOSS welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission in response to the draft National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032. This submission will establish several key points in response to the draft National Plan, along with directed responses under the suggested pillars, national infrastructure, measures of success and targets.

NTCOSS represents a varied service sector, with members bringing different experiences and perspectives relating to DFSV from across the region. NTCOSS acknowledges that a number of member organisations with specific expertise in this area have also provided submissions. In particular, NTCOSS supports submissions by Aboriginal community-controlled member organisations (ACCOs), networks representative of DFSV member organisations across the Territory, and members that provide specialist DFSV services and legal services, including the Central Australian Women’s Legal Service (CAWLS) and Top End Women’s Legal Service (TEWLS), which provided substantial input into this submission. NTCOSS acknowledges the endorsement of this submission by the Central Australian Family Violence and Sexual Assault Network (CAFVSAN), and supports the feedback provided by NT Shelter, the housing and homelessness peak organisation for the NT, on the draft National Plan document.

NTCOSS acknowledges differing perspectives of member organisation regarding the development of a separate National Plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women, as well as those that support the public petition to withdraw the draft Plan in its current form, to be replaced by a clear set of objectives with a credible path towards achieving an end to violence against women and children over the next ten years.

General comment

The draft National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 (the Plan) sets out a broad agenda for reform and change. NTCOSS and members acknowledge the aspirations of the Plan. However, there is concern that the vision of the blueprint for reform is too broad and lacks context for how change will be implemented, and how the Plan will effectively work alongside current approaches being undertaken by states and territories across Australia.

The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 was also broad in its agenda when developed, however since its implementation, advocates report that rates of DFSV have not decreased in our communities.¹ According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), rates of partner violence have remained stable since 2005, and the rate of women being hospitalised because of family violence and the number of people accessing services, including police, hospital, child protection and homelessness services increasing. ²

In 2019, it was reported that while the Federal Government had committed $723 million over the course of the National Plan (in addition to funding allocations from state and territory governments on their own programs), instances of DFSV were still at unprecedented levels.³ The Federal Government has also previously conceded that due to inconsistent data collection methods across Australia, it is difficult to measure the extent of the problem and the impacts of DFSV on our communities.⁴

While the draft Plan looks to address some of the above issues, through measures such as emphasis on data collection and research, there is concern that in its current form it falls short in providing context and definitive outcomes. Along with this, the failure to include recommendations from previous inquiries and reviews, such as the recommendation from the Inquiry into Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence for the adoption of needs-based funding, is of concern.

NTCOSS recommends that the Plan in its current form is strengthened to include a clear set of objectives, separate to future Action Plans, along with clear indications and commitments as to how the Plan will intersect with previous reviews and inquiries and their accompanying recommendations.

In addition to the above, NTCOSS’ general comment on the Plan include:

• While noting that in rural, regional and remote communities, the challenges and impacts of violence against women and children can be more complex to address, the Plan fails to include very remote contexts. Providing effective service responses to support victims and perpetrators of DFSV in very remote and remote areas is a unique and complex challenge. Ensuring that remote and very remote contexts are included specifically in the Plan, and the associated service responses, is critical.

1 ABC News, ‘Domestic violence still at ‘unprecedented’ levels despite hundreds of millions being spent’, September 2019, accessed at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-05/an-australia-free-from-all-forms-of-violence-and-abuse- against/11470584?nw=0

2 Ibid.

3 ABC News, ‘Domestic violence still at ‘unprecedented’ levels despite hundreds of millions being spent’, September 2019, accessed at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-05/an-australia-free-from-all-forms-of-violence-and-abuse- against/11470584?nw=0

4 Ibid.

• In March 2021, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs’ Inquiry into Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence recommended that Australian Government funding provided to state and territory governments for DFSV services be allocated using a needs-based funding methodology, rather than a per capita allocation, to account for variations in the presentation of DFSV in different jurisdictions. The recommendations specifically noted that the per capita methodology fails to consider the relatively high prevalence of DFSV in the NT. Needs-based funding was also highlighted as a priority through the Statement from delegates at the Women’s Safety Summit. NTCOSS recommends that the Plan (and associated funding delivered under the Plan) includes the development of a needs-based funding methodology to account for variations in the presentation of DFSV in different jurisdictions, in line with the Inquiry recommendations.
• The intended introduction of 5-year Action Plans under the Plan is welcomed, noting the positive impacts this will have on measuring and evaluating outcomes. However, NTCOSS is concerned that the measures and outcomes within the Plan do not reflect on the need to invest in a secure and sustainable service system to deliver against the proposed outcomes. While there is recognition within the Plan that demand for service responses will increase in the short and medium term because of enhanced primary and early intervention, there is no reference to the need to fund and resource this enhanced specialist support.

NTCOSS recommends that associated funding delivered with the Plan is allocated to services under 5-year funding contracts, with specific resourcing included for monitoring and evaluation of program specific outcomes. This will create a stronger standard of service delivery across the DFSV sector, assist in measuring outcomes within the community, and deliver greater service continuity.

• Inconsistent language is used throughout the Plan, particularly relating to the causal elements of DFSV. NTCOSS member organisation, CAWLS, succinctly sums up this inconsistency in its submission, noting:

The draft Plan opens with the statement ‘A lack of gender equality is cited as an underlying determinant of violence against women and children’ which is a weaker statement in relation to the causal connection compared with later references such as that which appears on page 12 (‘The primary driver of violence against women is gender inequality’). Further inconsistencies appear throughout the draft Plan. For example, the cause of the fact that women and men have experienced the pandemic differently is said to have been only ‘partly explained’ by existing gender disparities. There is no footnote or supporting evidence for this statement (p 18). Further, the reference to ‘risk factors’ on page 18 would be more consistent with previous material in the draft Plan if the factors were referred to as ‘reinforcing factors’. The inconsistencies may at first glance seem inconsequential but combined portray some lack of clarity in the messaging around family and domestic violence.

It is also vital that there be a focus on the voices and experiences of ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women’. Whilst this is acknowledged briefly on page 41, prior references to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the draft Plan are not gendered. Further, there is no explicit reference to the ongoing impacts of colonisation, despite reliance on the ‘Changing the Picture’ report produced by Our Watch, which emphasises the need to address the impacts of colonisation on both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and non-indigenous people.

Given the significance of developing a shared understanding of coercive control, the definition of coercive control should more explicitly recognise that it is the context in which intimate partner violence occurs. The

introductory sections include specific reference to non-physical forms of coercive control frequently co- occurring with serious forms of physical violence. However, it is equally important to draw attention to the fact that frequently there are no forms of physical violence used by a perpetrator until the final act of fatal or attempted homicide. Further, the section on Technology-facilitated abuse (p 18) would be improved by noting the connections with coercive control. Technology is used to achieve isolation through monitoring.

There are other inconsistencies with the draft Plan which undermine its persuasiveness. For example, under the heading ‘The impacts of violence against women and children – An Australian context’ (p 14), violence against women and children is described as ‘a human rights and criminal justice issue’. There follows very little reference or discussion as to how violence against women and children comprises either a human rights or criminal justice issue. As explored above, there is no analysis or discussion of the rising rates of female imprisonment nor the percentage of women in prison who are primary victims of family and domestic violence. The concept of ‘misidentification of the primary perpetrator’ is not identified, nor is there a discussion about the nature of resistive or defensive use of violence by victim-survivors.

NTCOSS recommends that the Plan is revised to ensure consistency of language throughout. NTCOSS supports the recommendation put forward by CAWLS to ensure that in addition to violence against women and children being framed as a human rights and criminal justice issue, that it also be framed at the outset as a public health and economic issue. The impact of DFSV on the health of victim-survivors is noted throughout the draft Plan and there is a one-line reference to overall economic impact. It is important to frame DFSV as a public health issue and economic challenge to provide the justification for a more consistent, coordinated, systems-based approach, which involves substantial reinvestment and engagement from a broad range of sectors.

• The Plan establishes that in the decade since the implementation of the first National Plan, the Australian Government has undertaken a series of reforms to Australia’s family law system to help families separate in a safe, child-centred, supportive, accessible, and timely way. The Plan states that the aim of these reforms has been to provide better coordination and awareness of family safety issues in Australia’s family law system. NTCOSS is concerned that the above inclusion does not adequately capture previous reforms to Australia’s family law system, as recommended in a series of reviews and inquiries.

The Plan also fails to recognise the importance of resourcing specialist women’s and family violence legal prevention services, when responding to family violence risks in family law matters. While NTCOSS acknowledges that there is reference to funding generalist family law services, it is critical that victim-survivors can access specialist service provision while navigating family law matters.

NTCOSS recommends that the Plan is amended to capture the importance of specialist service provision within family law and include specific reference to previous recommendations (including the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Family Law System Review), as well as place greater emphasis on Safety First in Family Law (as recommended by NTCOSS in response to previous inquiries).⁵

⁵ NTCOSS submission to the Australian Government Inquiry into Australia’s Family Law system, available at ntcoss.org.au

• While the Plan specifically notes that victim-survivors must be at the heart of solutions, the Plan is selective in which cohorts of victim-survivors it is catered to. The Plan fails to adequately explore misidentification of victim-survivors in criminal justice system responses, women who use resistive violence, and criminalised women (noting that many of these women are also victim- survivors). Further, the Plan fails to clearly capture or articulate the need for support for victim- survivors when navigating the court system.

NTCOSS recommends that the Plan be amended to adequately capture the above cohorts and the critical role they play in driving policies and solutions based on their lived experience, and necessary service system responses.

Pillar one: Prevention

• While NTCOSS broadly supports the focus areas and reasoning identified within the prevention pillar, that frameworks and approaches harnessed under this pillar are truly national in their reach and implementation (including accessible by different cohorts working within the service sector response and applicable across geographical locations) is critical.
• The Plan emphasises embedding prevention approaches across a range of different settings, however, fails to note the important role that governments play in this approach. Respect@Work and the Set the Standard Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces are two pieces of work that should be specifically mentioned for the role they play in this regard.
• Emphasis is also placed on giving individuals, such as active bystanders and women and girls with disabilities, the tools and confidence to challenge sexism, harassment, inequality, and other specific forms of violence, as well as challenge violence in specific contexts. These inclusions, as currently worded, place the onus to challenge behaviours on bystanders or victim survivors, and should be amended to include acknowledgement that these individuals are not primarily responsible for changing the behaviours of those who use violence.
• Empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voices includes specific mention of service delivery complexities in regional, rural and remote contexts and the need to consider funding models that reflect the complexity of services, workforce challenges and access issues. As previously noted, NTCOSS recommends the introduction of needs-based funding and the inclusion of very remote contexts within the Plan.
• While the Plan identifies the need to address intergenerational trauma for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through truth telling, capacity building and strengthening connection to culture, language, knowledge and identity, it fails to explicitly identify the ongoing impacts of colonisation. The Plan also fails to acknowledge that non-indigenous people must engage with the impacts of colonisation to identify and address the drivers of violence against Aboriginal women. ⁶ NTCOSS recommends that the Plan is amended to include specific mention of the ongoing impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the role that non-indigenous people play in engaging with these impacts.

Pillar two: Early Intervention

• Early Intervention within the Plan largely focuses on men and users of violence and fails to adequately capture victim-survivor autonomy in terms of choice, particularly where an individual chooses to stay in a relationship where they may be at risk of DFSV.
• The Plan notes that policing and justice systems need to be equipped to provide trauma-informed, culturally safe and person-centred responses. While implementing training within these systems

⁶ Our Watch, Changing the Picture, 2018, accessible at https://www.ourwatch.org.au/resource/changing-the- picture/

may be seen as early intervention, responses are not. NTCOSS recommends that police responses are instead defined within pillar three.

• Therapeutic supports and healing program are not defined in adequate detail, and when referring to Men’s Behaviour Change programs, the Plan is inconsistent in its identification of the need to introduce national minimum standards regarding the implementation of any such programs with adequate evaluation, data collection and reporting to accompany this.
• As previously noted, the Plan fails to mention criminalised women when discussing embedding programs into community and justice settings to reduce recidivism rates.

Pillar three: Response

• While outlining approaches to responding to DFSV, the Plan fails to provide context as to how these responses will be implemented (particularly cross jurisdictional approaches and how state and territory government responsibilities will work in terms of implementation) and how they will be resourced.
• The Plan highlights that victim-survivor crisis responses include mechanisms for information- sharing, however, does not explicitly state how this differs between different jurisdictions and the specific context in which these system responses will intersect nationally.
• Responses must differentiate between addressing underlying trauma and access to healing programs and therapeutic supports for both users of violence and victim survivors, and engagement with Men’s Behaviour Change Programs.
• The Plan identifies the need to account for increased costs of providing services in remote communities. As previously noted, this must also include very remote contexts and a needs-based funding model be adopted to help determine these costs.
• The Plan does adequately capture the breadth of issues under housing and homelessness, specifically; consideration of mechanisms to safely remove the user of violence from the house (along with the provision of related housing and social supports); increased support, including through care, for female prisoners to access accommodation services, and other social supports, to help reduce the likelihood of re-entry into unsafe environments; lack of access and availability of affordable housing stock. NTCOSS supports NT Shelter’s recommendations in regards to homelessness and housing access.
• As previously noted, NTCOSS recommends that legal responses should include reference to Safety First in Family Law and must note the importance of specialist legal provision of both women’s and family violence legal prevention services.

Pillar four: Recovery

• Language used within the Plan emphasises supporting ‘women who leave abusive or violent relationships’. This language overlooks women’s agency to choose what approach is best for them. Not all victim survivors will leave relationships where they may be at risk of DFSV. All victim- survivors must be supported, and victim-survivor autonomy must privileged.
• While NTCOSS supports recognising children and young people as victim-survivors in their own right, the Plan specifically states that part of this is providing children and young people with access to holistic responses that ‘focus on repairing the often-undermined mother-child relationship’. NTCOSS recommends that this recommendation be split into two, with providing holistic and therapeutic responses to children and young people separately defined to repairing relationships. In addition, the diversity of family units must be adequately captured when referring to relationship repair.

Dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan

• NTCOSS recognises that a number of member organisations have called for the development of a separate National Plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women, while others have supported the development of a separate Action Plan. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (particularly victim survivors of DFSV), communities and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) must be central to the development of any plan.
• The Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT (APONT) Partnership Principles outline the importance of ACCOs and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities being central to any program creation or delivery that impacts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and people. Place-based, community driven, culturally appropriate and safe models of service delivery, ensuring principals of co-design, are central to any program or framework success and should be prioritised in the delivery of the Plan.
• The Plan specifically notes that ‘remote and regional communities, specifically Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in those geographic settings, face challenges in preventing and addressing violence against women’. As previously noted, it is not only important that very remote contexts are also captured within the Plan, but that the complexities of delivering and providing services in these geographic settings (and the context provided within this section of the Plan) is included throughout all other sections of the Plan and any related Action Plans.
• The Plan states that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience different drivers of violence, that are embedded in harmful historical policies and practices, inter-generational trauma, and racism. NTCOSS recommends that this language is changed to state the drivers of DFSV for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are not necessarily different but compounded by the experiences of these policies and practices. As previously noted, NTCOSS recommends that the ongoing impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are also specifically included.

National Infrastructure

• The structures listed under this section of the Plan must be truly national and accessible for all.
• 1800RESPECT is not accessible in remote or very remote regions, or for those who do not have access to the appropriate technology. Further, it is not accessible for many people whose first language is not English.
• The future National DFSV Commission must be developed with guarantees of diversity, representation, and access to ensure that it can most appropriately fulfil its intended outcome of reporting on accountability, evaluation frameworks and monitoring of the Plan across all forms of Government. NTCOSS recommends that further context is provided within the Plan as to how the Commission is expected to accomplish its outcomes, how it will work across the multiple frameworks and service systems already in place within states and territories that intersect with the Plan, and mechanisms that will be put in place to ensure that diverse populations of people and their experiences are best represented.

Measuring Success and Targets

• Greater context and specific objectives must be provided within the Plan regarding the resourcing that will be allocated to measure success.
• To truly measure the success of programs across the spectrum of delivery in responding to DFSV and track outcomes, the Plan should include specific detail of how resourcing will encompass evaluation and monitoring. Resourcing for evaluation and monitoring must be included within service agreements and funding models. Any such measures should also include narrative reporting to measure outcomes – success is not just measured in statistical reporting and can be captured in broader social outcomes.
• National data standards should be introduced in terms of measuring success, to ensure that all states and territories are capturing the same data sets.

If you have any questions regarding the content of this submission, please contact Tessa Snowdon, Senior Policy Officer, at tessa@ntcoss.org.au