Victims, Victoria Police and the state’s peak service groups will work with the Andrews Labor Government to overhaul our family violence system from the ground up.
The announcement today of the membership of the Family Violence Steering Committee marks the next phase of the reform agenda, with the Government working with the community to review and implement the 227 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Family Violence.
The Family Violence Steering Committee includes Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton, Chair of the Victim Survivors Advisory Council Rosie Batty and Chief Magistrate Peter Lauritsen.
The committee will be co-chaired by the Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Fiona Richardson and Domestic Violence Victoria CEO Fiona McCormack.
It will work with the Government on an agenda for family violence reform, beginning with our $572 million package in the Victorian Budget 2016/2017 that responds to 65 of the Royal Commission’s most urgent recommendations.
Members of the Family Violence Steering Committee are:
- Ro Allen, Gender and Sexuality Commissioner
- Graham Ashton, Chief Commissioner, Victoria Police
- Maya Avdibegovic, Executive Director, In Touch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence
- Mary Barry, CEO, Our Watch
- Rosie Batty, 2015 Australian of the Year
- Jenny Blakey, Manager, Senior Rights Victoria
- Helen Bolton, CEO, Barwon Centre Against Sexual Assault
- Liana Buchanan, Commissioner, Children and Young People
- Rita Butera, Executive Director, Women’s Health Victoria
- Joanna Fletcher, CEO, Women’s Legal Service Victoria
- Annette Gillespie, CEO, Safe Steps
- Keran Howe, CEO, Women With Disabilities Victoria
- Andrew Jackomos, Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People
- Emma King, CEO, Victorian Council of Social Service
- Peter Lauritsen, Chief Magistrate
- Emily Maguire, CEO, Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria
- Fiona McCormack, CEO, Domestic Violence Victoria (co-Chair)
- Jenny Smith, CEO, Council to Homeless Persons
- Deborah Tsorbaris, CEO, Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare
- Rodney Vlais, No To Violence and Men’s Referral Service
- Jacqui Watt, CEO, No To Violence and Men’s Referral Service
Other committee members will be announced shortly, including two representatives from the Family Violence Regional Integration Committees and two from the Indigenous Family Violence Partnership Forum will also be included.
The inaugural convening of the Steering Committee will take place in June with a two-day workshop.
Quotes attributable to Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Fiona Richardson
“This is the first time victims, police, community legal centres, the courts and the service sector have worked with government to codesign a new family violence system.”
“Too many victims have been let down. This is our chance to get it right.”
“It will be the job of the Steering Committee to help us reshape a new system that puts victims at the centre of our reforms and makes perpetrators accountable for their behaviour change.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020