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Communication and Engagement response

Responsible government

  • Queensland

Fourth Action Plan actions

  • Primary prevention is key
    • 3 Implement targeted primary prevention activities designed by, and tailored for, the specific communities they are intended to support.
  • Respect, listen and respond to the diverse lived experience and knowledge of women and their children affected by violence
    • 11 Deliver policies and services to address the disproportionate impact of violence on particular groups.

What are we doing?

The Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Engagement and Communication Strategy 2016—2026 (the Engagement and Communication Strategy) sets the vision and direction for creating lasting positive cultural change across Queensland and shifting community attitudes and behaviours about domestic and family violence throughout the ten-year period, 2016 to 2026.

The Engagement and Communication Strategy represents a new approach to domestic and family violence engagement and communication in Queensland. It puts in place the elements required to create an environment that encourages new thinking and innovation.

The development of a communication strategy on domestic and family violence prevention, led by the Queensland Government, was a key initiative recommended in the Not Now, Now Ever report.

Under the Third Action Plan 2019–20 to 2021–22 of the Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Strategy 2016–2026, key initiatives will continue to focus on embedding positive cultural change and mobilising community and corporate-led action to address domestic and family violence in Queensland. Continuing communication and engagement activity will build on the communication and engagement initiatives delivered to date, which includes campaigns targeting people who may be experiencing domestic and family violence, bystanders, youth, and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ+) communities.

What have we achieved so far?

Under the Engagement and Communication Strategy, the Queensland Government has delivered several communication and engagement initiatives, including:

  • ‘Always On’ year-round advertising to raise awareness and understanding of domestic and family violence and ensure high visibility of help and support services.
  • Tailored advertising for a Queensland youth audience to raise awareness and understanding of domestic and family violence and help and support services.
  • Tailored advertising for those who identify as LGBTIQ+ in Queensland, to raise awareness that domestic and family violence exists within the LGBTIQ+ communities and remove barriers to reporting violence and seeking help and support.
  • Tailored advertising to raise awareness and understanding of the role of bystanders and how to safely and appropriately intervene and support those who may be experiencing domestic and family violence in Queensland.
  • Help and support messaging active in market annually through the December to February summer and Christmas holiday period, to address the reported increase in incidence of domestic and family violence and ensure high visibility of help and support services.
  • Critical public safety messaging in market to respond to the community impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic – continuing to raise awareness and understanding of domestic and family violence, provide clear pathways to accessing help and support and ensure that Queenslanders are aware that help and support services continue to operate through the COVID-19 pandemic, and emphasise the critical role of bystanders.
  • Development of a Queensland Government domestic and family violence online portal that provides victims and bystanders with easy access to all information they need, when they need it; and more broadly provides a central point of domestic and family violence information for all Queenslanders.
  • Partnered with the Queensland Aids Council to design and deliver a training program to the domestic and family violence sector – “Queer without Fear” to increase awareness and understanding of domestic and family violence in LGBTIQ+ communities. More than 30 workshops were held across the state with an excess of 400 participants from more than 70 different services.
  • General community awareness advertising targeting Queensland adults and youth to raise awareness of all forms of domestic and family violence, specifically non-physical forms of abuse.
  • Tailored resources and an online information hub to support Queensland women with disability impacted by domestic and family violence. The rollout of the resources included hard copies provided to select GP clinics and an easy-read booklet for General Practitioners to guide conversations with women with disability regarding domestic and family violence, and is supported by domestic and family violence training for the disability workforce in Queensland.

What is next?

Key future initiatives to be delivered under the Engagement and Communication Strategy will build on initiatives delivered to date and will continue to raise awareness and understanding of all forms of domestic and family violence, including physical and non-physical forms of abuse; maintain high visibility of help and support services for all Queenslanders; and further mobilise corporate and community-led action.

Future initiatives will be shaped by research and learnings to date, and consider audience groups that have been identified as more vulnerable to the impacts of domestic and family violence, or disproportionately represented as experiencing domestic and family violence, including:

  • Young Queenslanders (12-17 years old)
  • Elderly Queenslanders (70+ years old)
  • Culturally and linguistically diverse Queenslanders
  • Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples
  • Persons with disability
  • LGBTIQ+ communities
  • Rural, regional and remote-based Queenslanders.

What difference will we make?

Through the continued delivery of initiatives, desired outcomes may include:

  • Queenslanders understand all types of domestic and family violence are unacceptable.
  • Victims and perpetrators know where to go for help.
  • Bystanders take appropriate and safe action.
  • Queensland corporates and community leaders take a leadership role in addressing domestic and family violence.

Some indicators of success for future initiatives may include:

  • Greater proportion of Queenslanders are aware of the different types of domestic and family violence.
  • Greater proportion of Queenslanders indicate that all types of domestic and family violence are unacceptable.
  • Greater proportion of bystanders understand how to safely intervene.
  • Greater proportion of Queenslanders believe it is important to change our culture.
  • Greater proportion of Queenslanders believe it is everyone’s responsibility to address domestic and family violence.

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