National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children is released

The AMA has welcomed the plan but says it must be followed up with clear implementation strategies and goals. 

The AMA welcomes the release of the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032. The plan comprehensively outlines the many issues women and children face, including those statistically more likely to be at risk of violence, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with a disability, culturally and linguistically diverse populations, and the LGBTQIA+ community. The AMA’s submission to this consultation process can be found here.

The AMA notes GPs are often the first person a victim-survivor turns to for support and advice, and we are pleased the plan recognises the important role of healthcare providers in terms of frontline support for victim-survivors. We agree that consistent training in family, sexual, and domestic violence response is needed across the healthcare sector, and we support further attention to enhancing nationally consistent approaches to the safety and quality frameworks for detection and response to victim-survivors and perpetrators.

A separate action plan will be developed from the National Plan dedicated to addressing violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children — one that is culturally safe and driven by Indigenous expertise and perspectives.

The plan also seeks to address gender-based violence through the development of a separate National Gender Equity Strategy.

While the final version of the plan comprehensively outlines the current issues and provides a long list of broad outcomes, the AMA looks forward to seeing clear implementation strategies and goals through the Action Plans and investment into this important issue. Several inquiries into this issue have already occurred and recommendations handed down. Now is the time to act.