NATIONAL PLAN TO REDUCE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:31): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: The minister has spoken many times in this place about the importance of the government's—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Would the Hon. Mrs Zollo like to complete her explanation, or start again perhaps?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: I think I should start again, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: Why not?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: The minister has spoken many times in this place about the importance of governments working together to achieve positive change. Can the minister provide information about what South Australia is doing to progress the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for Gambling) (15:33): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children sets an aspirational vision and target to focus national efforts over the next 12 years (2010-22), aiming for Australian women and their children to live free from violence in safe communities. It seeks to achieve a significant and sustained reduction in violence against women and their children.

The Australian government's response to a Time for Action, the final report of the National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, was released on 15 February 2011. The national plan has been endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments, and I am very proud to say that it has the full commitment of the South Australian Labor government. It recognises and complements the substantial work already undertaken nationally and in the states and territories.

Actions identified in the plan build on existing work and joint undertakings between the commonwealth, state and territory governments and non-government organisations. It will help achieve a real and sustained reduction in the level of violence against women, while working cooperatively with all states and territories in a coordinated approach. The national plan is the very first of its kind to focus so strongly on prevention, including building respectful relationships among young people and working to increase gender equity to help violence from occurring in the first place.

South Australia will use the national plan to help guide local planning for services to assist women who are victims of violence. In addition, the state's Women's Safety Strategy is being refreshed and revamped to bring it more closely into line with the priorities outlined in the national plan.

Some of the key actions undertaken in the national plan include supporting local community action to reduce violence against women; a commitment to support the inclusion of respectful relationships education in phase 3 of the Australian curriculum; provision of telephone support for frontline workers, such as allied health, child care and paramedics, to better assist clients who have experienced violence; new programs to stop perpetrators committing acts of violence; national standards for perpetrator programs; and, of course, establishing a national centre of excellence to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies to reduce violence against women.

Evaluation is a very important aspect in enabling us to guide our future directions and efforts. It is one thing to have a good idea, but it is most important that we are actually able to put programs in place. We need to make sure that the program is doing what we expect and want it to do and that we are in fact using the Australian dollar wisely and responsibly. That sort of work will very much help provide guidance and direction in relation to that. The other is a personal safety survey and national community attitude survey to track the impact of the new action plans every four years, to mention just some of the initiatives that have been announced so far.

The national plan is intended to get the best results possible by bringing the efforts of all service systems together to achieve the common goals of preventing violence, delivering justice for victims and improving systems. It will bring a new focus on preventing violence against women by seeking to change the attitudes and behaviours that lead to violence.

The national plan also contemplates other important work being progressed by state and federal governments, including the development of a National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children, the evaluation of the Northern Territory Emergency Response and the work of the Social Inclusion Board. The national plan will be implemented through four three-year action plans over a period of 12 years.

The action plans will be governed by a ministerial council and overseen by a national implementation group including representatives of the federal government, state and territory governments and non-government sector, and leading researchers and experts. South Australia will continue to work with our jurisdictional colleagues to implement projects under the national plan such as the 1800 RESPECT 24 hour, seven day a week national telephone and online crisis service.