ACT Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Strategy
In April 2024, The Salvation Army provided a submission to the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government in relation to the development of an ACT Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Strategy (the Strategy).
The ACT Government is developing a 10-year ACT Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Strategy, and is seeking input regarding the consultation drafts vision, principles, and focus areas. The Salvation Army’s response was informed through consultation with our family violence stream, alongside our Doorways, Salvos Loans, housing and homelessness, alcohol and other drug, youth, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services.
In this submission, The Salvation Army outlines some of our initial recommendations that we believe would strengthen the Strategy’s focus areas. At the heart of our recommendations is the need to first and foremost promote the rights and safety of victim-survivors of family violence through the development of an integrated, well-equipped service sector that is set up in a way that it does not do more harm.
The Salvation Army provided a response to this opportunity as we have a significant footprint in family violence service delivery across Australia. Whilst we do not have specialist family violence services in the ACT, The Salvation Army interacts with victim-survivors of family violence through frontline services including our Doorways emergency relief, Canberra Recovery Servives, Moneycare financial counselling, and our Oasis youth services. This opportunity allowed us to present to the ACT Government our experience of how the wider service sector engages with victim-survivors of family violence, and the supports and reforms required to continue to improve these responses and ultimately outcomes for those we serve.
This submission covers:
- Strengthening the principles. We propose some key reforms to strengthen the principles as outlined in the Strategy. We focus on improved information sharing and cross-training to promote integration, investment in an advisory mechanism which cements the voices of victim-survivors, and investment in a suite of services to hold persons who use violence accountable.
- Considering the diverse needs of victim-survivors. We highlight some of the unique challenges faced by victim-survivors across the ACT and propose recommendations to ensure that all victim-survivors have access to support when, where, and how they need it. We specifically discuss supporting children and young people as victim-survivors in their own right, keeping victim-survivors out of financial hardship and poverty, supporting victim-survivors on temporary visas, partnering with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, ensuring members of the LGBTIQA+ community have access to culturally safe support, and investing in housing and homelessness supports.
Included also for consideration is The Salvation Army’s submission to the Domestic Violence Agencies (Information Sharing) Amendment Bill in October 2022. This submission outlines some of our key recommendations related to communication between agencies to ensure victim-survivors of family violence are supported, and persons using violence held accountable.
The ACT Government is due to release a report containing sector feedback and next steps in May 2024. The Strategy is due to be published in mid-late 2024 and implemented in late 2024.