Establish an Our Watch Primary Prevention Officer in Tasmania
Responsible government
- Tasmania
Fourth Action Plan actions
- Primary prevention is key
- Respond to sexual violence and sexual harassment
- 15 Strengthen the capacity of all sectors to address sexual harassment to ensure women are safe at work, while studying, in public and online.
What are we doing?
The Tasmanian Government will establish an Our Watch Primary Prevention Officer (referred to as the Senior Advisor Tasmania), a nation-first, to coordinate and support primary prevention efforts across Tasmania, working closely with government and non-government services to implement key Our Watch projects in Tasmania; work with Our Watch Ambassadors to promote primary prevention activities in Tasmania; and provide organisations with technical advice and expertise on building primary prevention in their organisations and communities.
- Establish an Our Watch Primary Prevention Officer in Tasmania is an action under Safe Homes, Families, Communities: Tasmania’s action plan for family and sexual violence 2019-2022 (Safe Homes, Families, Communities), which invests $26 million over three years from 2019-20 to 2021-22 to prevent and respond to family and sexual violence in Tasmania.
What have we achieved so far?
Safe Homes, Families, Communities commenced implementation on 1 July 2019.
In October 2019, a national-first primary prevention partnership model was launched between the Tasmanian Government and Our Watch, which established an Our Watch Senior Advisor Tasmania (based in the State).
The Senior Advisor Tasmania commenced in the role in March 2020.
Since commencing in March 2020, the Our Watch Senior Adviser Tasmania has focused on:
- establishing relationships with the community sector and local government, as well as across the State Service;
- promoting Our Watch and the partnership with the Tasmanian Government; and
- sharing evidence-based research and resources developed by Our Watch.
Despite the challenges that COVID-19 presented, the Senior Adviser Tasmania has undertaken significant engagement with key stakeholders across the State, including meeting with various non-government organisations and local government representatives. Since commencing in March 2020, work undertaken by the the Our Watch Senior Adviser Tasmania has included:
- Establishing relationships with the community sector.
- Supporting Tasmanian Government departments to implement the Our Watch Workplace Equality and Respect Standards.
- Working with the Local Government Association of Tasmania to identify ways to support local governments, including promoting the Our Watch Local Government Toolkit.
- Targeted engagement with Tasmanian Aboriginal organisations, which has resulted in SETAC receiving Our Watch Connected Communities funding for the Tegganaha Palawa project (Strong Men, Strong Futures) to work with Aboriginal men to prevent violence against women.
- Providing advice on the design and content of the Tasmanian Government’s primary prevention grants program for Aboriginal organisations.
- Advising the community sector on primary prevention initiatives and resources.
What is next?
The Our Watch Senior Adviser Tasmania will continue to work closely with government and non-government services to implement key Our Watch projects in Tasmania; work with Our Watch Ambassadors to promote primary prevention activities in Tasmania; and provide organisations with advice on building primary prevention capacity and expertise within their organisations and communities.
They will also support Tasmanian Government departments to implement the Our Watch Workplace Equality and Respect Standards, which commenced implementation in 2021.
What difference will we make?
Preventing violence is core to keeping Tasmanian families strong, safe and together and preventing violence and abuse from happening in the first place is the single most effective way to eliminate violence.
The Our Watch Senior Adviser Tasmania will assist to further develop primary prevention capacity, capability and expertise in Tasmania. In addition, by establishing this position, there will be increased delivery of primary prevention activities in Tasmania and increased coordination of primary prevention efforts in Tasmania.