No to Violence (NTV) welcomes the Government’s focus today on engaging men in prevention and addressing their use of family violence, but more is needed to stop it at the source.

‘Increasing our focus on ending system abuse is welcome, however the promise of $8.6 million over a number of years doesn’t go far enough,’ said NTV’s CEO Phillip Ripper.   

NTV believes a focus on those using violence is vital if we are to end family violence in this country. The Government’s Innovative Perpetrator Response initiative aims to find new and better ways to work with men to end their use of family violence and minimise the risk of reoffending.  

‘This program is crucial, but there needs to be an enormous investment uplift in funding for innovative responses to people using violence.’  

‘We acknowledge today’s announcements by the government but to ensure they make an impact they need, they need to be underpinned by a national strategy.’

Mr Ripper urged both the Government and Opposition to commit to a dedicated national strategy focused on People using Violence to ensure we engage early with people at risk of using violence and intervene with more men in new ways to end their use of violence; as well as working with young men and boys to break intergenerational cycles of violence . 

“To truly keep women safe, we need to stop violence at its source – that is, men using violence.” 

“We need national systems and services to work together to identify people using violence and connect them with services to reduce the escalating impacts of their behaviour on their victims and communities.” 

No to Violence is calling on the Liberal/National party coalition to also announce their plans to address the national family violence crisis and commit to a dedicated national Men’s Behaviour Change Strategy. 

“As a nation, we need to ensure all our efforts to end people’s use of family violence are targeted, effective, mutually reinforcing and adequately resourced. Violence and abuse are preventable with the right strategy.” 

For interviews please contact David Sutherland at davids@ntv.org.au or 0405 354 343