Respect Victoria's leadership towards evidence‑informed primary prevention

In 2023-24, Respect Victoria:

• Aired the Respect Starts with a Conversation campaign. For more information on this campaign see Respect Starts With A Conversation.
• Led the Melbourne Walk Against Family Violence as part of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence in November 2023.
• Supported grassroots events across metropolitan and regional Victoria; published the Summarising the Evidence resources in December 2023.
• Partnered with Jesuit Social Services to fund and deliver the second edition of The Man Box in February 2024, and is authoring a forthcoming report focusing on implications for prevention from the Man Box report.
• Established the Prevention Alliance, a partnership of prevention agencies.

In 2024-25, Respect Victoria again supported Victoria’s participation in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. This included leading the Melbourne Walk Against Family Violence, which over 8,500 Victorians joined (the highest attendance to date), and partnering with Safe and Equal and grassroots organisations to bring 16 Days to communities across the state.

Willing, capable and confident: men, masculinities and the prevention of violence against women - the second report published from The Man Box 2024 partnership between Jesuit Social Services and Respect Victoria - was launched in August 2024. Respect Victoria continued to provide expert advice on prevention policy, practice and investment, including through bipartisan engagement with State and Federal MPs and participating in key consultations on State and Federal policy reform. For example, this includes development of the forthcoming Aboriginal National Family Safety Plan, the Australian Law Reform Commission Inquiry into Justice Responses to Sexual Violence and the Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into collecting data on perpetrators of family violence.

As part of the Victorian Government's Women's Safety Package, in 2024-25 Respect Victoria launched the What Kind of Man Do You Want to Be? campaign to encourage men to reflect on the social pressures associated with masculinity. The campaign has reached more than 3 million people in the target audience in the first 3 weeks.