We thought this would be an excellent resource for No to Violence members to keep abreast of developments, breaking research and innovation, training and professional development and how we can all contribute to national and state policy and programs.

Acknowledgement of First Nation’s People and Aboriginal Lives Matter

I firstly want to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands across Australia.

The Black Lives Matter and Aboriginal Lives Matters movements have an important reminder to all Australians of the horrible statistics and stories in relation to Aboriginal deaths in custody and the inherent discrimination against First Australians.

It has always been important to listen and heed the advice of First Nation’s voices. Things need to change and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples must be supported to lead this. As a sector we must listen and elevate First Nations voices and draw on the experiences and lessons from a society over 60,000 years old.

Changes across sector:

There have been exciting changes in the sector as we welcome back two people with extensive experience across the sector.

A warm congratulations to Delia Donovan, who has taken a role as new interim CEO of Domestic Violence NSW. Delia has impressive sector experience: you may remember her work during the crucial final moments consolidating the past work done by White Ribbon Australia.

After the announcement of a merger between Domestic Violence Victoria and Domestic Violence Resource Centre, we’re excited by the news that the two organisations will be led by newly appointed, Tania Farha. Tania has worked with the United Nations as a policy specialist, with Victoria Police coordinating partnerships with government and non-government agencies to facilitate integrated efforts to combat family violence[i]. 

We are also aware that White Ribbon Australia will soon be re-launched in the next couple of weeks. As members may be aware, White Ribbon Australia was acquired by Communicare late last year and have recently led a consultation program. We will keep you apprised of any developments including opportunities to collaborate.

New sector opportunities

Further to these announcements, the newsletter provides updates on Victoria’s MARAM, new training opportunities, an Information Sharing Entities (ISE) and Risk Assessment Entities (RAE) database and new research from the UN Population Fund and ANROWS.

We hope you enjoy this new resource. If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see here, please get in contact: communications@ntv.org.au

[i] http://genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/tania-farha-un-women-public-lecture