VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:12): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question on collaborations.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: There are many challenges in working to reduce violence against women.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Can the minister inform the chamber of new partnerships being formed to address issues that relate to violence against women?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. Members may recall that on 2 December last year I launched the new phase of the South Australian government's women's safety strategy titled 'A right to safety'. This strategy recognises that partnering with the community is important if we are to address underlying causes of violence against women.

I can today advise that this partnership will take the form of violence against women collaborations, which will be established across South Australia to support and bring together service providers, advocates and interested organisations to develop regional approaches to respond to and prevent violence against women. We recognise that every region across South Australia has its own unique strengths and challenges, and the purpose of violence against women collaborations is to build community capacity to prevent and reduce violence against women in local regions through developing multi-agency regional approaches.

I am advised that in some regions this will involve work to support existing networks to focus on violence against women, while in others it will involve working with champions in the community to establish a network. Violence against women collaborations are different from the family safety framework, which has a focus on families at imminent high risk of death or serious injury due to domestic violence.

Violence against women collaborations are multi-agency partnerships that will develop regional alliance plans to identify and develop regional specific strategies to respond to and prevent all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence, rape and sexual assault. Possible partners include local government, business groups and service providers, as well as service clubs. By prioritising issues on violence against women through the development of regional alliance plans it is hoped that communities will develop a culture that does not tolerate any form of violence against women.

The types of strategies could include undertaking education awareness campaigns about violence against women, and may include items such as postcard distribution through local businesses and information stalls at local events, for example, show days. Another idea is creating a central directory of local services to improve appropriate referrals, and more integrated case management; also, undertaking safety audits as part of the planning for community events to ensure that all members of the community can participate in these events safely.

Another idea is supporting employer-based actions, which may include engaging men to promote positive masculinity characteristics (for example, positive fatherhood and respectful relationships), and encouraging gender equity and diversity tools to be employed in workplace policies and programs.

The Office for Women is working with the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion on its Homelessness Strategy to develop these collaborations through an across government reference group, and includes representatives from a range of different government departments. I have been advised that the work to implement violence against women collaborations has commenced, with initial meetings already held in western metropolitan Adelaide, southern metropolitan Adelaide and Port Lincoln. Work will shortly commence in the Limestone Coast, Cooper Pedy and Berri areas and be expanded to other areas across the state as soon as possible.