Formal Submission to the Second Action Plan 2026

This submission, prepared by the Centre for Non-Violence, on behalf of the Loddon Consortium of Gender Equality and Violence Prevention, highlights the critical role of specialist services in informing policy and legislative reform, and in shaping effective prevention and early intervention initiatives. Family, sexual and gender-based violence cannot be addressed through a one-size-fits-all approach. Effective prevention, response and recovery efforts must recognise the diverse experiences and needs of women, children and communities impacted by violence and the place-based expertise of specialist services. It also must be informed and led by the place-based expertise of specialist services working across family, sexual and gender-based violence prevention, response and recovery.

While we acknowledge the Federal Government’s recognition of family, sexual and gender-based violence as a national crisis and welcome the development of a range of national frameworks, plans and agreements, these initiatives have too often been developed without meaningful engagement with the specialist services sector. In doing so, governments forgo the invaluable insights that come from decades of frontline experience. Specialist organisations witness firsthand the impacts of violence, the barriers to safety and recovery, and the outcomes of effective interventions. Their expertise should be central to the design of policies, systems and reforms intended to address violence against women, children and diverse communities.

We echo the call of Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine, CEO of ANROWS, that achieving meaningful progress in ending violence against women, children and diverse communities requires ensuring that “national action is informed by the knowledge, experience and insight held across communities, services, workforces and systems. [1]

To achieve this, governments must create the mechanisms and structures that enable specialist sectors across all states and territories to work collaboratively and in genuine partnership with government. This includes strengthening opportunities to build the evidence base, share knowledge and translate evidence into more effective practice, systems reform and legislation. Without a coordinated national response, lives will continue to be placed at risk, and people who use violence will continue to exploit gaps across systems and jurisdictions to evade accountability and responsibility for their choice to harm others.

Delivering tailored and accessible services for victim-survivors and people who use violence requires sustained investment in the specialist sector, alongside a commitment to embed specialist family violence expertise within federal policy, funding and decision-making structures.

Every victim-survivor in Australia deserves access to a safe home, a well-funded specialist family and sexual violence sector, and systems that are family violence and trauma-informed. We urge the Government to address these issues and establish a clear mandate for genuine partnership with the specialist sector to advance the shared goal of ending violence against women, children and diverse communities.

To read the Loddon Consortium for Gender Equality and Violence Prevention submission, click the button below.

[1] ANROWS 2026. Monthly Newsletter, June.