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Monday, 1 June 2015
Royal Commission into Family Violence: NTV/MRS consultation and your key issues, findings
Dear Member,
The Royal Commission into Family Violence has now received all final member submissions of No To
Violence, The Men’s Referral Service and the sector. The State Government has made its submission
public June 1st with a strong call for integrating service for better systemic responses to hold
perpetrators accountable and how gender inequity and negative attitudes to women are the key
contributing factors to family violence.
You can access the Victorian Government submission online via this link.
As No To Violence and The Men’s Referral Service indicated, there will be a combined submission
which includes contributions from the NTV membership base: volunteers, men’s behaviour change
providers, individual members, practitioners and agencies.
We have endeavoured to consult with all NTV members, including forums, phone consultations and
SurveyMonkey. We thank you for your valuable contributions during this busy time. We all
recognise this is a significant opportunity. As such, key recommendations based on your
contributions will be built in to our final submission.
With a focus on both prevention and male family violence, NTV and MRS will be lobbying for real
systemic change; this was the main common theme that we heard from you, in addition to more
funding and resources.
The following are key issues, not necessarily in order of significance, that represent the views of
members that contributed to the consultations and SurveyMonkey completed in May 15 2015.
Strengthening the web of accountability
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The system is untenable in the current state: the safety of women and children is compromised
as it now “bursting at the seams” with inadequate responses; legal, crisis and court
respondents are being overwhelmed, with inadequate resources for frontline staff as the gaps
increase.
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The Men’s Behaviour Change waiting list for men and perpetrators is dire and further
escalates risk as more men slip through the gaps or men opt out.
The onus of responsibility should not be only on Men’s Behaviour Change programs, the
agencies that are beleaguered with all the burden and risk of family violence. This risk needs
to shift and be shared with DHHS, Courts, and Child Protection.
Repair and fuel the system: many members believed that the system was not entirely broken
but rather needed more communication, consistency and collaboration with Courts, Child
Protection to strengthen the web of accountability.
There are many cases where one size does not fit all, whether it be for our rural, metro, CALD
or Indigenous members. The challenges are different and our framework needs to reflect that,
and be more inclusive.
We need to begin with making the link between gender inequity and family violence, and to
engage and educate communities. Early intervention and primary prevention is the key, with
men’s programs and women’s services working together where possible.
Real systemic change from the upper echelons to the frontline; change legislation: Make
Family Violence a crime not only a civil matter and make breaches to Intervention Orders
matter.
We also heard:
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There are fine examples of integration and effective case management at various levels despite
lack of resources.
There is a need for more accreditation, with attainable and inclusive standards, guidelines and
more evaluation of the effectiveness of programs in the short and long term.
For further details, contact Family Violence Royal Commission Member Liaison and Project Coordinator, Mary Karambilas, directly at maryk@ntv.org.au
NTV/MRS, as part of the No More Death’s Alliance of family violence organisations, have received
additional time to complete our submission. As such, we’ll be disseminating the final submission in
the coming weeks, and will continue member engagement and discussion. In the interim I welcome
your questions or comments about NTV / MRS’s work in the Family Violence Royal commission.
For your information please refer to the No More Deaths Alliance document Principles Framework for
Family Violence System Reforms and a letter to the Alliance from the Chair of the Royal Commission
into Family Violence.
Yours sincerely,
Jacqui Watt
Chief Executive Officer
No To Violence Male Family Violence Prevention Association
Men’s Referral Service