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Respect Victoria is the state’s dedicated organisation for the prevention of family violence and violence against women. Our vision is a Victorian community where all people are safe, equal and respected, and live free from family violence and violence against women.
To achieve our vision, we lead and support evidence-informed primary prevention and act as a catalyst for transformational social change. Primary prevention aims to stop violence from occurring in the first place, by changing the culture that drives it. We drive coordination and effectiveness of the prevention system. We build and promote primary prevention knowledge and evidence. We keep prevention on the public and policy agenda. We guide prevention wherever Victorians live, work, learn and play. We raise awareness that violence against women is preventable and influence community conversations to fuel social change.
We are an independent voice, with functions, powers and duties enshrined in legislation.
The primary prevention of violence against women
Primary prevention is our opportunity to stop all forms of violence against women, including sexual violence, before it occurs and curb the extreme social and economic costs of this harm. Primary prevention seeks to change the conditions that allow violence against women to thrive in society (3). These conditions include our individual attitudes, beliefs and behaviours, social norms, organisational cultures and practices, policies, laws and institutions. Prevention works by promoting healthy, safe and equal environments, behaviours and attitudes in places where we live, work, learn, socialise and play (3).
The prevention of sexual violence has been identified as a priority across efforts to address violence against women in Australia, as evidenced by the focus on both primary prevention and sexual violence within the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032 (4) and its first Action Plan (5), the introduction of the Commonwealth Consent Policy Framework (6), and the Federal inquiry into Current and Proposed Sexual Consent Laws in Australia (7). Australia's most recent National Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women Survey (‘NCAS’) shows that despite progress in attitudes towards violence against women and support for gender equality generally, many Australians still hold harmful attitudes that minimise, excuse, or normalise sexual offending (8).
A broad spectrum of action is required to holistically address violence against women, including sexual violence. This includes response services (such as refuges, helplines, counselling and support services, and men’s behaviour change programs), early intervention initiatives (such as programs that work with individuals who are a higher risk of perpetrating or experiencing violence), and primary prevention (such as policy change and programs that address the gendered drivers of men’s violence towards women) (3).
Primary prevention approaches can be effectively embedded within early intervention and response efforts to produce immediate benefits for victim-survivors, while driving the long-term systemic and cultural change required to eliminate violence in the future. For further information about the continuum of effort required to prevent violence against women, including sexual violence, see the infographic at annexure A.
The nexus between justice responses to sexual violence and primary prevention
Prevention’s overarching goal is to stop violence before it starts. Therefore, this approach holds the potential to reduce sexual offending and demand on the justice system, enhancing the system’s ability to deliver timely responses to sexual violence. These benefits can be achieved by targeting the attitudes, behaviours, and structures that drive sexual violence at a whole-of-population level so that, in time, less people experience and perpetrate sexual violence, and need to engage with the court system.
Addressing the gendered drivers of violence can also enable the justice system to provide safe, just, and effective responses to sexual violence. The presence of stigma, victim-blaming, shame, and the normalisation of violence within both the justice system and the community at large creates barriers to reporting and pursuing outcomes through the justice system. Prevention initiatives and community education can dispel common myths, misconceptions, and harmful attitudes, supporting victim-survivors to disclose their experiences and gain access to the justice system.
Finally, the justice system is also a ‘setting’ for prevention. Delivering targeted prevention initiatives within the justice system ensures those working within the justice system have the knowledge, skills and capacity to provide trauma-informed responses for victim-survivors, and deliver outcomes that hold perpetrators to account and connect them with services and supports to reduce reoffending. By delivering prevention initiatives at both a whole-of-population level and within the justice system, we seek to ensure every opportunity is taken to reinforce positive messages about consent, respect, and healthy sexual relationships.