Introduction

Purpose and scope

Respect Victoria was established as a statutory authority on 1 August 2018, fulfilling Recommendation 188 of the Royal Commission into Family Violence. Under the Prevention of Family Violence Act 2018 (Vic), Respect Victoria must conduct a review every three years that examines trends and outcomes in Victorian efforts to prevent family violence and violence against women (1). 

Respect Victoria released its inaugural Three Yearly Report in September 2022, covering the period between 2018 and 2021 (2). This report covers three years from January 2022 to December 2024.

This report showcases the crucial role and contribution of primary prevention in the transformational change required by government and the community to stop family violence, gendered violence and all forms of violence against women. It is an important public accountability tool, making prevention efforts and their impacts visible to members of the Victorian Parliament and Victorian people (3). 

This report also details the challenges and opportunities ahead for primary prevention and priorities for action and investment. It provides clear recommendations to safeguard current progress and to guide future efforts to prevent family violence and violence against women. 

While comprehensive, this report is not exhaustive and is not able to cover all prevention efforts. It relies on the perspectives of leaders working in prevention, and the available evaluation evidence on the impact of programs and strategies to provide an understanding of the landscape in which prevention efforts are taking place, including across a broad range of settings and cohorts.

How this report was developed

This report is drawn from consultation with individuals and organisations and reviews of strategies, policies, reports and program evaluations (where available), including:  

• 38 informant interviews with stakeholders including relevant Commissioners and representatives of local, state and federal government, family violence, violence against women prevention and gendered violence prevention agencies, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, peak bodies and community sector organisations (footnote 1)
• 10 consultations with established networks and governance groups that focus on primary prevention
• a survey of more than 150 prevention practitioners and representatives from government and non-government entities (footnote 2)
• a high-level review of published and unpublished documents, including policies, plans, regional strategies, evaluation reports, research reports, evidence frameworks and practice guides from the prevention sector
• the findings from a 2024 regional systems-mapping project by Respect Victoria and Victorian Women’s Health Services
• analysis of data from Respect Victoria’s Prevention of Family Violence Data Platform and other data sources including the Statewide Theory of Change, which informed the review methodology.

Together with the expertise of Respect Victoria these sources have informed the analysis and recommendations in the report. 

Intersectional approach

Primary prevention requires an intersectional foundation to be effective. Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how experiences of discrimination and inequality (e.g. on the basis of gender, race, sexuality, disability, age) can intersect and interact. As explained by Our Watch, applying an intersectional approach to the primary prevention of family violence and violence against women means “not only tak[ing] account of the diversity of people’s experiences and identities, but …explicitly seek[ing] to address the multiple intersecting systems of oppression and discrimination, power and privilege that shape the social context in which this violence occurs” (4).

In developing this report, Respect Victoria embedded an intersectional approach in a number of ways, including:

• We centred the voices and perspectives of a diverse range of practitioners, policymakers, organisations, and people who have experienced violence. This includes practitioners and specialist community-led organisations that represent the richness and unique voices and experiences of Aboriginal women and communities, LGBTIQA+ people, culturally and racially marginalised communities, older Australians, young people, people with disability, faith communities and organisations working across different regions throughout Victoria. Our approach was grounded in principles of practice and evidence, informed consent and research ethics.
• We recognised and drew attention to the intersecting drivers of different forms of family violence and violence against women, and drew connections with other aspects of systemic and social inequality and oppression that impact people’s experience of violence, including racism, colonisation, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, ableism and ageism.
• We highlighted intersectional prevention practices and approaches from across Victoria that are nation leading.
• We promoted the importance of Indigenous Data Sovereignty and the importance of Victoria’s primary prevention sector being ready for and part of Treaty with Victoria’s First Nations peoples. 

Language and terminology

To be consistent with the Prevention of Family Violence Act 2018 (Vic) and Respect Victoria’s legislative remit, this report generally uses the language of family violence and all forms of violence against women (1, 5). However, the report also charts prevention work that covers many forms of gendered violence including gendered violence against LGBTIQA+ people. The report also reflects the terminology used by participants to accurately describe their work. 

Family violence, as defined in Victorian law and policy covers a wide range of contexts and manifestations of violence, including intimate partner violence and violence between other family members. This includes physical, sexual, psychological and financial violence and abuse, including coercive control. Family violence also covers ‘family-like’ relationships (such as carers) and Aboriginal understandings of family violence including kinship relationships and lateral violence within Aboriginal communities (1, 6). People from marginalised communities may face distinct forms of violence. For example, LGBTIQA+ people may experience threats to ‘out’ their sexuality or HIV status, or denial of access to gender affirming care.

All forms of violence against women refers to the different but interrelated forms of violence against women underpinned by gender inequality, by any perpetrator, regardless of whether they are known to the victim. The Prevention of Family Violence Act 2018 (Vic) defines violence against women as ‘physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life’ (1). 

In the development of this report, Respect Victoria took a deliberately broad and inclusive approach using the language of gendered violence where appropriate. This is in recognition of the disproportionate impacts on the LGBTIQA+ community, particularly non-binary, trans and gender diverse people who experience harm from shared and distinct gendered drivers of violence, including entrenched gendered or power inequalities, rigid gender norms, heteronormativity and cisnormativity (7-9).

The report also includes consideration of elder abuse, which is understood to include any act occurring within a relationship where there is an implication of trust, which results in harm to an older person (10).

Throughout this report, ‘community-led work’ refers to tailored prevention activities designed for and by particular communities, who experience marginalisation, discrimination or oppression. For further illustration, see a spotlight on Aboriginal-led prevention and progress, challenges and opportunities in community-led prevention work. 

Within this report we refer to people who participated in key informant interviews or group consultations as ‘report participants’. People who completed the survey that informed this report are referred to as ‘survey respondents’. ‘Prevention practitioners’ refers to people who work within the prevention workforce as described in Safe and Equal’s Foundations for Action report (11). This includes people working in a multiplicity of roles across the public, private and community sector in both specialist organisations and in key settings, related sectors and communities. It includes people delivering and leading prevention programs, initiatives and campaigns; undertaking prevention-focused research, policy development or advocacy; and leading prevention-focused workforce development, capability building, system strengthening and coordination, monitoring, evaluation and learning. 

About Respect Victoria

Background

Respect Victoria’s origin stems from the 2016 Royal Commission into Family Violence, under Recommendation 188 that outlined the need for the Victorian Government to establish a dedicated family violence prevention agency to oversee and drive prevention of family violence activities in Victoria. This was to include provision of policy and technical advice on primary prevention, technical advice and expertise on building primary prevention within communities, coordination of research that builds evidence of primary prevention and to ensure that accredited workforce development training in primary prevention is available through registered training organisations (12).

The organisation was formally established under the Prevention of Family Violence Act 2018 (Vic), to serve as an independent voice with functions, powers and duties protected by law (1).

Respect Victoria is guided by a set of principles that: 

• everyone should live in a safe and equal society free from violence
• equality and respect should be promoted across the community
• gender equality and respectful relationships should be promoted
• the prevention of violence contributes to a more equal society.

About Respect Victoria’s work

Respect Victoria’s work is grounded in evidence and includes:

• driving quality, sustained uptake of prevention work across the state
• building knowledge and evidence about what works to prevent violence
• keeping prevention on the policy and public agenda
• supporting social change and educating the community that violence is preventable.

Respect Victoria focuses on achieving outcomes towards a violence-free Victoria through collective effort at all levels of society.

This report is a demonstration of Respect Victoria's unique and leading role in working with government, sector and community to provide evidence informed and objective advice on the state of primary prevention in Victoria and how best to continue to drive the transformational positive change needed to end family violence, violence against women and gendered violence.

Organisational milestones

In the PDF publication of this report, these operational milestones were presented as 'Figure 1'.

2022:

• Publication by Our Watch of report commissioned by Respect Victoria Understanding, monitoring and responding to resistance and backlash
• Launch of report commissioned by Respect Victoria 'No More Excuses' – Primary Prevention of Violence Against Women with Disability by the University of Melbourne
• Launch of 'Respect Is', a campaign aimed at supporting men to encourage each other to break down gender stereotypes
• Relaunch of the Respect Older People: 'Call It Out' campaign
• Tabling of the inaugural Three Year Report to Parliament on the state of prevention
• Convening of the Prevention Alliance (first iteration) to bring together statewide peaks to strengthen prevention system coordination
• Delivery of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Toolkit

2023:

• Launch of 'Respect starts with a conversation': a new campaign that showcases Victorians challenging outdated gender stereotypes
• Hosting of Walk Against Family Violence with a record 5,000 attendees
• Coverage of the entire state with prevention activities for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence
• Launch of new strategic plan for 2023-2028
• Release of joint statement on misogyny in the Australian media
• Release of the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Mapping Project and Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Evidence Review, developed by Urbis in partnership with Karen Milward for the Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum
• Release of Summarising the evidence: Exploring what we know about drivers of violence against women, family violence and other forms of gendered violence, conducted by Australian Institute of Family Studies
• Convening of the Primary Prevention Research Symposium

2024:

• Awarding of $9.8 million to deliver a nation-leading, community saturation model in Ballarat
• Release of Evidence review: Reducing and preventing violence against women, developed by Dr Lara Fergus, setting out the evidence in support of a Victorian saturation model
• Hosting of Walk Against Family Violence with a record 8,500 attendees
• Growth in coverage of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence
• Partnership with Jesuit Social Services to support design and publication of the national 2024 Man Box study
• Launch of Willing, capable and confident, a report that examines how men in Australia are challenging harmful masculine norms, in partnership with Jesuit Social Services
• Completion of Systems Mapping project with women's health services across the state
• Launch of Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan
• Submission to the inquiry into capturing data on family violence perpetrators in Victoria and appearance before the Committee in a public hearing
• Submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission's Inquiry into justice responses to sexual violence
• Convening of the Monitoring and Evaluation Advisory Group
• Delivery of the Statewide Theory of Change
• Formal establishment of the Prevention Alliance and expansion of membership

Footnotes