SUBMISSION

Office for Women and Violence Prevention (Qld): Consultation for a new Queensland Women’s Strategy – Discussion paper

This submission draws on a breadth of ANROWS research to provide feedback on the development of a new Queensland Women’s Strategy (“the Strategy”). 

The Queensland Office for Women and Violence Prevention invited submissions on the development of a new Queensland Women’s Strategy. ANROWS provided a submission that draws on our evidence base, including the 2017 National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS), research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intimate partner violence (IPV), and research on working across sectors to meet the needs of victims and survivors. The submission also highlighted the role that WorkUP Queensland has played in providing workforce capacity- and capability-building support throughout the pandemic.

Informed by this research, ANROWS made a series of recommendations as follows:

• Implement a new Strategy focused on improving community attitudes around gender equality and ensuring that any responses to gender equality use an intersectional approach.
• Fund further research to better understand attitudes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and why they are changing.
• Fund programs that respond to the complex and diverse needs of women experiencing IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of this violence beyond the pandemic period.
• Fund further research and programs that focus on the safety of women experiencing IPV as well as children who are victims and survivors of domestic and family violence during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Maintain the high level of collaboration between the Queensland Government, service providers and peak bodies, and extend untied funding models to allow for flexible responses to DFV in future phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Fund further research into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on marginalised groups and fund programs that meet the diverse needs of these groups.
• The Queensland Government should consider funding research to understand the impact of the Strategy and any proceeding strategy to support monitoring of success and impact and to enable continued improvement.
• Fund WorkUp Queensland beyond 2024 so that it can continue to invest in evidence-based implementation projects to continue to support Queensland specialist services to reduce violence against women and improve gender equality.
• The Queensland Government should play a coordinating role that facilitates cross-sector collaboration and funds resources and ongoing training developed out of evidence-based literature.

The Queensland Women’s Strategy 2022–27 was released in 2022.

 

 

Suggested citation

Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety. (2021). Re: Consultation for a new Queensland Women’s Strategy – Discussion paper [Submission]. ANROWS.