Resources on technology-facilitated abuse for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women

Responsible government

Support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their children
- 6 Value and engage the expertise of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and men, communities and organisations to lead in the creation and implementation of community-led solutions to build and manage change.
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.
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.

The Commonwealth Government is working with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to:

identify how technology-facilitated abuse (TFA) is being used in the context of domestic and family violence
co-create specialist materials to empower frontline workers in the community to effectively support Indigenous women
provide support to ensure the program can scale and support frontline workers across the country.
The Commonwealth Government has provided $2.5 million between 2019-20 and 2021-22 to fund resources to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women identify, report and protect themselves and their children from technology-facilitated abuse.

Due to the impact of COVID-19 there have been some delays experienced in undertaking consultation with identified communities.
Research into the TFA experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women from regional and remote communities was released in August 2021.
eSafety has provided grants to eight Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations across Australia to create culturally appropriate, place-based resources and training to support women in their communities experiencing technology-facilitated abuse.
These resources will help increase community awareness of technology-facilitated abuse and support frontline workers to help their clients.
The resources will be completed by June 2022.
eSafety is providing webinar-based training on technology-facilitated abuse to help build capacity of the ACCOs and support the development of resources.
eSafety will also offer general online safety presentations for each local community when it is safe to travel to these communities.
In 2022, eSafety will develop and launch an online learning module to complement its support offering for frontline workers supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

Intended outcomes for this initiative include:

communities actively participate in the development of culturally appropriate training and support materials
sectors and communities have increased capacity and capability in understanding the impact of technology-facilitated abuse

Indicators for monitoring and evaluating the performance of these activities include:

27 October 2021