The National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032
On 17 October 2022, the Australian, state and territory governments released the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 (National Plan).
The National Plan is the overarching national policy framework that will guide actions towards ending violence against women and children over the next 10 years.
It highlights how all parts of society, including governments, businesses and workplaces, media, schools and educational institutions, the family, domestic and sexual violence sector, communities and all individuals, must work together to achieve the shared vision of ending gender-based violence in one generation.
The National Plan outlines what needs to happen to achieve the vision of ending violence in one generation, across four domains:
- Prevention – working to change the underlying social drivers of violence by addressing the attitudes and systems that drive violence against women and children to stop it before it starts.
- Early intervention – identifying and supporting individuals who are at high risk of experiencing or perpetrating violence and prevent it from reoccurring.
- Response – providing services and supports to address existing violence and support victim-survivors experiencing violence, such as crisis support and police intervention, and a trauma-informed justice system that will hold people who use violence to account.
- Recovery and healing – helping to reduce the risk of re-traumatisation, and supporting victim-survivors to be safe and healthy to be able to recover from trauma and the physical, mental, emotional, and economic impacts of violence.
Read the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032.
Also available as an Easy Read version.
Supporting documents
- First Action Plan 2023-2027
- First Action Plan 2023-2027 Activities Addendum
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan 2023-2025
- Outcomes Framework 2023-2032
- Theory of Change 2022-2032
First Action Plan
The First Action Plan (2023-2027) provides a roadmap for the first 5 year effort towards achieving the vision of the National Plan. It sets out the initial scope of activities, areas for action and responsibility with respect to outcomes, and outlining how we will make the commitments set out in the National Plan a reality.
Through the First Action Plan, the Australian, state and territory governments commit to implement 10 Actions:
- Action 1: Advance gender equality and address the drivers of all forms of gender-based violence, including through initiatives aimed to improve community attitudes and norms toward family, domestic, and sexual violence.
- Action 2: Improve the national evidence base by working towards consistent terminology and monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and by strengthening collection and sharing of data and evidence.
- Action 3: Increase and strengthen the capability of mainstream and specialist workforces to deliver quality services, activities and programs across the four domains, including those that are tailored to respond to the unique experiences of all victim-survivors.
- Action 4: Build the capacity of services and systems that support victim-survivors to provide trauma-informed, connected and coordinated responses that support long-term recovery, health and wellbeing.
- Action 5: Strengthen systems and services to better hold people who choose to use violence to account, and provide opportunities to support people who have used violence, or are at risk of using violence, to change their behaviours, with the aim of protecting the safety and wellbeing of current and potential victim-survivors.
- Action 6: Improve action to prevent and address sexual violence and harassment in all settings, across the four domains of the National Plan.
- Action 7: Work in formal partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to ensure policies and services are culturally competent, strengths-based and trauma-informed and meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, aligning with the goals of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan.
- Action 8: Develop and implement age appropriate programs across all four domains, informed by children and young people, that are culturally safe, to intervene early to address violence supportive behaviours and support recovery and healing from trauma.
- Action 9: Improve police responses and the justice system to better support victim-survivors through the provision of trauma-informed, culturally safe supports that promote safety and wellbeing, and hold people who choose to use violence to account.
- Action 10: Improve access to short-term, medium and long-term housing for women and children experiencing violence, including those living in institutional settings, and support women to stay in their own homes when they choose to do so.
First Action Plan Activities Addendum
The Australian, state and territory governments will undertake specific activities to implement each action detailed in the First Action Plan. Governments will also be progressing joint activities under each action.
The Activities Addendum will be updated annually to track implementation of activities and to reflect new activities and investments committed to by the Australian, state and territory governments over the life of the Plan.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan
A dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan will work alongside the First Action Plan. It has been developed in genuine partnership with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council on family, domestic and sexual violence. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan has been developed in recognition of the disproportionately high rates of family, domestic and sexual violence that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan is fundamental to addressing Target 13 of National Agreement on Closing of the Gap - to reduce all forms of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children by at least 50% by 2031, as progress towards zero.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan has been developed using a wealth of community, sector and academic knowledge. Activities within the Action Plan acknowledge the unique underlying causes of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples, such as the ongoing impacts of colonisation, intergenerational trauma, and systemic and institutional racism.
Read the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan
Outcomes Framework
The Outcomes Framework links actions and activities being undertaken by the Australian, state and territory governments with our aim to end gender-based violence in one generation.
The Outcomes Framework will increase our ability to monitor and report change over the life of the National Plan, and will guide investment, inform the strategic direction for policy and program design and unify governments across all jurisdictions through a shared vision and direction for change.
Theory of Change
The Theory of Change explains how and why we expect change to occur, as we work to achieve our vision of ending gender-based violence in one generation.
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