Release of plan to reduce violence against women
29 April 2009, 05:03PM
Amnesty International welcomed today's release of Time for Action, a report containing key recommendations for the National Plan of Action to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children, likely to be launched next year.
Also encouraging are the initiatives announced today by Government, including a public information campaign, respectful relationship program for young people and a national crisis service.
However, Amnesty International notes that today's announcements indicate an apparent drop in funding specifically dedicated to reducing violence against women. The $41.5 million announced today by the Government is significantly lower than the $75.6 million allocated for the current four-year period, from 2005 – 2009.
"While we are concerned about the potential reduction of funding, the initiatives announced today are a step towards addressing violence against women. We look forward to seeing further commitments in the budget that are commensurate with the huge scale of this problem," said Amnesty International Australia’s Stop Violence Against Women campaign coordinator Kate Lappin.
According to Amnesty International’s Setting the Standard report, Australian Government spending would need to total AUD$120 million over the next four years just to match the average, per 10,000 people, set by the Council of Europe.
The organisation cautions that the initiatives announced today do not, alone, constitute a successful National Plan, which the Government committed to implementing in its first term.
"The Government's focus appears to be on preventing violence," said Ms Lappin.
"Prevention is an essential pillar of a comprehensive strategy to tackle the issue. But this must be matched by adequately funded services for survivors of violence, and prosecution of perpetrators.
"We don’t want to see overloading of the very services that are so essential for women attempting to escape violence."
"Australian experience has shown that efforts to raise public awareness and prevent violence encourage more women to contact services, which, without proper funding, cannot cope with the greater demand," said Ms Lappin.
Research commissioned by the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children has put the cost of violence against women at $13.6 billion. Increased funding to solve the problem makes good social and financial sense, and would help address this fundamental human rights issue.
Amnesty International Australia also hopes to see further initiatives to address violence against Indigenous Women. The Indigenous healing programs announced by the Government are not, alone, adequate for supporting female survivors of violence. Amnesty International has recommended a national body specifically tasked to oversee programs to end violence against Indigenous women.
The Government made an election promise to implement a National Plan in its first term, and has said it will launch this plan early next year.
The Time for Action report will be presented to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). Amnesty International welcomes COAG's prioritising of the issue of violence against women, and calls on States and Territories to show their commitment to addressing this entrenched social issue. Amnesty International’s research has found the National Plan will be most successful if it includes all portfolios and levels of government.
Amnesty International Australia commends the work of the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children in producing the Time for Action report.
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Comments
Comments are submitted by members of the public and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Amnesty International Australia. If you find a comment objectionable please contact the web editor.
John K.
2 May 2009, 04:23PM
The ABC Radio National Life Matters program ran a story on Stop Violence Against Women, entitled “National plan to reduce violence”, with guests, Moira Carmody and Vanessa Swan. The program was aired on Thursday 30th April 2009 and is available as a podcast at the time of writing.
n h r mahanga
2 May 2009, 11:42AM
I do not believe peaceful co-existence will exist in the world (generally) until such time as men accept that they, with women, equally, share decision making, politically and otherwise for the benefit of all. As things stand and have done for thousands of years, with men making decisions without the wisdom and nurturing input of women, humanity for the most part has been subjected to war making and violence. It has continued ad infinitum. Women can help to change this. The world cannot continue in this way. It is madness and of course it filters down to family units and individuals.
Men and women need to respect one another differences…
Only by doing so can the human family achieve a measure of happiness.
Nicholas Gysi
30 April 2009, 07:47PM
There must be greater funidng for services helping women escape violence. Violence against women is a blight that must be stopped.
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