Advisory Panel to Reduce Violence Against Women Named

The Federal Government has announced the full membership of its specially convened Advisory Panel to reduce violence against women along with $30 million in funding for a national anti-violence education campaign.

The Government previously appointed former Victorian Police Commissioner Ken Lay to Chair the Panel with domestic violence advocate and Australian of the Year, Rosie Batty as Deputy Chair.

The Government has now appointed domestic violence expert, Heather Nancarrow to the Panel to serve as joint Deputy Chair with Rosie Batty.

Nancarrow is the current CEO of the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) and brings over 30 years’ experience of work on the prevention of violence against women.

A statement from the Prime Minister said the new panel members had been nominated by each State and Territory and have specialised knowledge across domestic and family violence, sexual assault, online safety, violence within Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and people with disabilities.

“The purpose of the panel will be to advise the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) on the issue of domestic and family violence and make recommendations on how Governments can best respond,” the statement said.

“The Advisory Panel will run for up to 18 months and will immediately begin advising COAG on practical ways to address violence against women.  The panel will report back to COAG by the end of 2015.

“The Advisory Panel’s formation follows the Commonwealth Government’s decision on 28 January 2015 to elevate the issue of violence against women and their children to a national level at COAG.”

The PM said that the Commonwealth will also deliver a $30 million national campaign, jointly funded by the State and Territory Governments.

“Education is fundamental to changing attitudes and achieving the cultural change that is required to eradicate domestic violence in Australia.”

The Federal Government said that by the end of 2015, COAG will:

• agree on a national domestic violence order (DVO) scheme, where DVOs will be automatically recognised and enforceable in any State or Territory of Australia;

• develop national standards for how we intervene against perpetrators and hold them accountable; and

• enact a national approach to dealing with online safety and the misuse of The Government’s commitment to provide appropriate resources to address the scourge of domestic violence is clear, as evidenced by our $100 million contribution to the Second Action Plan under the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children.

The full membership of the COAG Advisory Panel is:

• Ken Lay APM (Chair)

• Rosie Batty (Deputy Chair)

• Heather Nancarrow (Deputy Chair)

• Julie Oberin

• Tracy Howe

• Ed Mosby

• Dr Vicki Hovane

• Maria Hagias

• Commissioner Darren Hine APM

• Sue Salthouse

• Bess Price MLA

Details of the Federal Government’s anti domestic violence program can be found HERE