Warning: This article contains distressing content.
After decades of advocacy from survivors and advocates, the government has launched the nation's first stand-alone plan to end violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children.
Our Ways - Strong Ways - Our Voices: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Plan to End Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence 2026 -2036 was launched at Parliament House on Tuesday morning and is aimed at addressing the high and disproportionate rates of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children.
The plan sits alongside the government's National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032.
At a press conference at Parliament House on Tuesday, Minister for Indigenous Affairs Malarndirri McCarthy thanked all those involved in building the plan and acknowledged the immense cost.
"Today’s pretty special. So many people have been involved with this National Plan, and I’m so conscious that now we have the National Plan, it’s about what we do next," she said.
"To each and every one of you who have been involved, a sincere thanks."
In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are seven times more likely than their non-Indigenous counterparts to experience intimate partner homicide and 27 times more likely to be hospitalised by family violence and those living in regional or remote areas are 41 times more likely.
The plan invests $218.3 million of funding across four years, with $40 million of that to be immediately invested into 40 Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to deliver community-led specialist support services for women experiencing domestic, family and sexual violence.
The plan will focus on providing crisis response services, programs to support victims leaving violent situations and remain on their feet, ongoing therapeutic supports including linking in with local Elders, and behavioural change programs for men and boys.
It also supports the extension of the Leaving Violence Program Regional Trials to 2027.
Minister for Social Services, Tanya Plibersek, labelled the day as "historic".
"For the first time, Australia has a dedicated national plan to address the unique needs and barriers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children face in accessing support," she said.
“Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices stands on the shoulders of its advocates - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and victim survivors ... I’d like to thank Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who shared their advice, stories and experiences of domestic, family and sexual violence. Your courage drives this plan.
“This plan is our shared commitment to work together to make sure all communities, from Redfern to Alice Springs, are safe and strong.”
Minister McCarthy reflected on the "deeper meaning" of the day, referencing lived experience and loss.
"I have no doubt that each and every one of us has examples in our own lives of family and domestic violence, and I just ask that we think about that for a moment, because that’s the real reason why we’re here," she said.
The Minister acknowledged the community of Lake Cargelligo, who are grieving the alleged domestic violence-related killing of three Aboriginal people.
"There are families across the country, like those in Lake Cargelligo, who are still in desperate need of support, of love, of healing, of being surrounded in good ways to come through the other side," she said.
"I reflect on my brother and the loss of his daughter just before Christmas. We are still yet to bury my niece."
Making her final remarks, the Minister said that "change begins now".
"Your advocacy matters, and your voice definitely matters," she said.
"As we walk out these doors, as we walk around the floors of Parliament House, that change happens now.
"For that, I thank you."
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