Everybody Matters: Inclusion and Equity Statement
Responsible government
- Victoria
Fourth Action Plan actions
- Respect, listen and respond to the diverse lived experience and knowledge of women and their children affected by violence
What are we doing?
Everybody Matters: Inclusion and Equity Statement sets out the Victorian Government’s ten-year commitment to building a family violence system that is more inclusive, safe, responsive and accountable to all Victorians, inclusive for people from diverse communities.
Through the Everybody Matters Inclusion and Equity budget initiative, the Victorian Government will provide:
- $2.8 million over four years from 2019-20 to 2022-23 to improve family violence responses for people with a disability.
- $2.91 million over four years from 2019-20 between 2018-19 and 2021-22 to strengthen the LGBTIQA+ family violence response.
- Additional funding has been provided during the COVID-19 pandemic to support Victorians who face additional risks and obstacles to engage with the service system, including LGBTIQA+ Victorians and Victorians from multicultural communities.
What have we achieved so far?
- The Everybody Matters: Inclusion and Equity Statement was launched in April 2019, following significant community engagement. Applying an intersectional framework, Everybody Matters outlines a pathway towards a more inclusive family violence system by investing in systemic change and building our knowledge, capabilities and specialisation to achieve a system that is responsive to all Victorians to ensure that everyone who needs family violence support is able to access the right service and receive the help they need.
- 26 family violence services including six Aboriginal services were funded to undertake Rainbow Tick accreditation aimed at assisting organisations to become safer and more inclusive of LGBTIQA+ communities.
- LGBTIQA+ Family Violence applicant and respondent practitioners have been funded at the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria to ensure an inclusive service where LGBTIQA+ people have the information, advice and support they require when they come into contact with the court due to family violence.
- Over a two-year (2020-2022) period, the Multicultural COVID-19 Family Violence Program, is expected to reach over 7,000 Victorians from 40 different cultural backgrounds. In July 2020, the Multicultural Communities Family Violence Working Group was established to support 20 organisations funded under the Multicultural COVID-19 Family Violence Funding Package. The time-limited working group is responding to issues raised by multicultural, faith-based and ethno-specific organisations regarding demands on their services, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify and advise on opportunities and systemic gaps in the family violence service system.
- Additional specialist family violence case management support is funded via two key multicultural and ethno-specific organisations – inTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence (inTouch) and the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights, and flexible support packages to support multicultural people provided through inTouch.
- Seven community-based perpetrator cohort trials and interventions have been funded targeting diverse community groups, including multicultural communities.
- The Inclusion Action Plan for The Orange Door has now been finalised. The Inclusion Action Plan is a two year plan that will embed inclusion, access and equity into The Orange Door services and policies. Localised implementation plans are being developed for each of The Orange Door sites to support effective implementation of the actions arising from the plan. As part of the implementation process The Orange Door will connect with the Victorian Multicultural Commission Regional Advisory Councils and the Multi Faith Advisory Group as well as local settlement services and ethno-specific and multicultural agencies and programs with a focus on building trust with local communities to enable referral and outreach pathways.
- The Disability and Family Violence Practice Leader Initiative has been established to build capacity, strengthen linkages and provide guidance to deliver more inclusive, accessible and responsive services for adults, young people and children with disability, including across the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) interface.
- The NDIS Family Violence Workforce Capacity Building project has been funded to deliver tailored learning and resources and to build the capacity of the family violence sector to support clients with disabilities and to work with the NDIS.
What is next?
- A three-year Blueprint (Rolling Action Plan) for 2019-2022 for Everybody Matters is being finalised. The Blueprint outlines the initiatives, actions and investments under development to improve family violence responses for all diverse community groups including people with a disability, people from LGBTIQA+ and multicultural communities, older people, children and young people, people with mental health issues, and women exiting prison. Initiatives, actions and investments that strengthen family violence responses for Aboriginal Victorians are outlined in the Dhelk Dja 3-Year Action Plan.
- A two-year monitoring plan is being developed to support oversight of the implementation and impact of the first, and subsequent Blueprints.
- The Orange Door Inclusion Action Plan is a two-year plan to embed inclusion, access and equity in The Orange Door services and policies. It contains a range of actions across four key pillars which will build the capacity of The Orange Door and its workforce to better respond and support people across all diverse communities. The Plan will be implemented from 2021.
- An Elder Abuse Reform Strategy is being developed. It will support Whole-of-Government actions for prevention, early intervention, and response to Elder Abuse. It will align Family Violence responses for older people across different service sectors which engage with senior Victorians. This will be developed during 2021-2023.
What difference will we make?
This initiative will contribute to the National Outcomes that communities are safe and free from violence, that relationships are respectful, that Indigenous communities are strengthened and that services meet the needs of women and their children experiencing violence.
The Victorian Family Violence Outcomes Framework was published in Ending Family Violence: Victoria’s Plan for Change, which outlined Victoria’s priorities in preventing and responding to family violence, why they matter, and what constitutes success. The Victorian Family Violence Outcomes Framework is a whole of Government framework and is intended to ensure Victorian family violence reform efforts are focused on the actions that make a difference. The Victorian Government is progressing development of the framework, including through indicators and measures. In time, measurement and monitoring of Victorian family violence outcomes may also support reporting for the National Plan.
A monitoring plan for Everybody Matters will be developed in 2021-22. It will align with the Family Violence Outcomes Framework and monitor and track progress against the Everybody Matters: Inclusion and Equity Statement and the subsequent Inclusion and Equity Blueprints (Rolling Action Plans).