SASVic acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional and ongoing custodians of the lands on which we live and work. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded and recognise First Nations peoples' right to self-determination and continuing connection to land, waters, community and culture.
SASVic also acknowledges victim survivors of sexual violence who we work for every day. We acknowledge the pervasive nature of sexual violence, and the impact that it has on survivors and their communities. We celebrate the powerful advocacy of survivors that is changing systems and policy.
SASVic Member Update
Hi everyone,
Thanks to everyone who came to our AGM last Wednesday. Commissioner for Child and Young People, Liana Buchanan, spoke powerfully about the need for more action, including by our sector, on child sexual exploitation, and the federal Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, acknowledged the importance of our sector in survivors' recovery and confirmed that the Australian Law Reform Commission's report on changes needed on sexual offences will be out in January.
This week we've been campaigning on last week's High Court decision that said the Catholic church didn't have 'vicarious liability' for one of their rapist priests. This returns us to the bad old days of the Ellis report. This is an impossible situation, and we need the Victorian Government to legislate urgently to address this. We partnered up with the In Good Foundation and survivors to write to the state Attorney General, and wrote a letter for our national peak, NASASV, to do the same. See the letter below.
Have you seen news.com.au's campaign series on sexual violence, called #TakeTheStand? The journalist, Nina Funnell, worked closely with reps from the specialist sexual assault sector across the country to get her 'asks' right. The campaign is pushing for eight changes, including better access to forensic examinations, the introduction of Justice Navigators across the country and independent legal representation for survivors. Details below.
Speaking of campaigns, we've partnered with Fair Agenda on a model for expanding the right of victim survivors to pre-recorded testimony. If you missed the webinar, you can read the report below.
Finally, if you're interested in hearing from other SASVic members about their most innovative programs, pencil Feb 19 into your diary. We're planning a day exploring the best approaches to support recovery for survivors. More details to follow.
In solidarity,
Kathleen
CEO
SASVic
For World Children's Day yesterday, ANROWS launched a guide consolidating its policy recommendations from over 20 research reports on children and young people's experiences of domestic, family and sexual violence. ANROWs describes the guide as being for policy actors, practice leaders and advocates. The guide identifies four principles to underpin reform:
- Systems of oppression intersect to create compounding forms of discrimination
- A rights-based approach upholds the dignity of all children and young people
- A clear authorising environment enables child-centred reform practice
- Where there is violence, there is resistance.
"A sexual abuse survivor who was groomed and sexually touched by a new-age breathworker purporting to 'heal' her has shared how she was pressured and bullied into retracting parts of her story to save a business's reputation," writes Claire Sibthorpe in an investigation for The Sydney Morning Herald.
This isn't the first time journalists have investigated sexual violence in the wellness sector. Last year, SASVic gave a comment to the ABC for an article about sexual misconduct in the massage industry.
The National Redress Scheme supports survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. In this half-day workshop, eight Victorian redress support services are collaborating to provide you with detailed information about how to assist clients on their journey.
Date: Thursday, 5 December
Time: 1pm - 4:30pm
Location: Holiday Inn Dandenong
Join the online launch of Margins to Mainstream: Preventing violence against women with disabilities (M2M) and the Women's Health Service Network's (WHSN) bid for investment in the2025-26 Victorian state budget.
Date: Monday, 25 November
Time: 11:00 AM -12:00 PM
Location: Online
In Victoria, this event marks the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence – a global campaign for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.
Date: Friday 22 November
Time: 11am
Location: Birrarung Marr
Take your leadership practice to the next level with Lead + Adapt.
Lead + Adapt is a professional development program for executive and senior leaders in Victoria working to end or respond to family, gender-based and sexual violence. The program runs over a period of three months and includes six all-day, in-person workshops and one to two hours a week of independent work. Dates will be announced shortly.
Applications for 2025 are now open until 9am Monday 25 November.
The Catholic Church in Victoria will be effectively freed from vicarious liability for abuse committed by priests before 2018, following a High Court ruling last week.
The High Court overturned a previous ruling that the Ballarat Diocese was legally responsible for historic child sexual abuse perpetrated by one of its priests, because priests, who are appointed under Cannon Law, don't have a formal employment contract with the Church.
The finding also has the potential to free other institutions, like foster care, scouts, sporting clubs and even schools from vicarious liability for child sexual abuse committed by volunteers before 2018.
We joined In Good Faith Foundation, Care Leavers Australasia Network and a number of victim survivors and advocates to write an open letter to Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes, encouraging her to amend legislation to ensure that churches cannot avoid liability for sexual abuse committed prior to 2018. South Australia and the Northern Territory have already made similar amendments.
Amid the chaos of an upcoming social media ban for kids under 16, the federal government made another policy announcement: a duty of care for digital platforms.
A duty of care is a "legal obligation to take reasonable steps to protect others from harm". The idea is that social media companies would have to be proactive about making their products safe, rather than just addressing harms after they've occurred. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in her announcement that the government would "ensure the regulator can draw on strong penalty arrangements" if a digital platform breached its duty of care, though did not specify what these penalties would be. The government also hasn't said which digital platforms the duty of care would cover.
The duty of care approach is a key recommendation from a yet-to-be-released independent review of Australia's Online Safety Act. Similar legal frameworks already exist overseas, including in the UK and EU.
Redress payments to survivors of child institutional sexual abuse will be exempt from the residential aged care means test from 2025.
Federal Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said in a press release "we’re making this change to remove payments from any aged care means test to ensure survivors are not financially disadvantaged when the time comes for them to access aged care services”.
The exemption will be made through data matching so survivors do not have to disclose their abuse again.
LGBTIQA+ survivors of sexual violence have shared their stories in a new anthology produced by ACON, a NSW-based queer community health organisation. The stories are told in various formats, from short stories to poems, songs and visual art.
This Trans Awareness Week, Zoe Belle Gender Collective is inviting you to attend its latest workshop for practitioners working in mental health and/ or gendered violence.
Lead by Juniper Muller and Starlady, this advanced interactive workshop for clinicians is based upon the ZBGC's new Transfemme Practice Guide: Responding to the objectification , fetishisation and sexual exploitation of trans women and trans feminine people by cisgender men.
Zoe Belle Gender Collective is inviting practitioners who have existing experience or knowledge in working with trans and gender diverse people to learn and contribute practice wisdom.
Date: Friday, 22 November
Time: 9:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Thorne Harbour Health training rooms, 200 Hoddle St Abbostford VIC
While almost all medium and large employers in Australia have a sexual harassment policy, more than 1 in 4 (28%) aren't tracking how prevalent it is in their workplaces.
The figures come from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).
More than 7,000 employers covering more than 5 million employees reported new information to WGEA in 2024, following the implementation of Recommendation 42 of the Respect@Work report. More stats include:
- 88% of workplaces offer training on workplace sexual harassment to their employees
- 85% of employers had their sexual harassment and discrimination policy reviewed by the CEO and 55% had it reviewed by the board.
Note that businesses with fewer than 100 employees aren't included in this data as they don't have to report to WGEA.
New psychological experiments by researchers at the University of Melbourne show young men who see women as objects are more likely to be violent towards their partners. The men in the experiments completed implicit association tests and questionnaires about their violent behaviour, and even stabbed virtual voodoo dolls with the same names as their partners. The researchers argue that objectification is a distinct factor for predicting violent behaviour, separate from hostile sexist attitudes towards women.
Womens Health Victoria is offering its gender-responsive mental healthcare online course for free until 31 December 2024. Designed for mental health practitioners, health service managers and other leaders, the course will help practitioners develop foundational knowledge of how sex and gender shape mental health experiences, treatment and outcomes. The two-hour course also includes a foundational understanding of how gender-based violence impacts mental health.
New survey analysis by ANROWS shows less than half of First Nations Australians believe the police and government take violence against women in their communities seriously. The data comes from 442 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who answered the 2021 National Community Attitudes towards Violence Against Women Survey. ANROWs found that:
- 44% believed violence against women in their communities was taken seriously by police
- 36% believed it was taken seriously by the government
- 66% agreed services would maintain confidentiality of women reporting family violence
- respondents "strongly disagreed" with many, but not all, harmful attitudes towards family and sexual violence.
ANROWS said in a press release that the findings "signal the urgent need for systems-level reform to dismantle systemic racism and ensure culturally safe, trustworthy support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women".
Note that ANROWS does not compare First Nations survey results to non-First Nations results.
The average age of girls' first exposure to pornography has dropped to 13.6, according to new research from Our Watch. The average age of first exposure was 16 as recently as 2018. The findings are from a survey of 832 young Australians aged 16 to 20, which also found that:
- almost a third (31%) of young people use porn as a form of sex education, though many recognise it is not a good way to learn about sex
- 72% of young people say pornography often shows aggression and violence against women
- 84% believe that porn pushes stereotypes of what is expected of men and women in sex.
Our Watch is recommending that age-appropriate pornography education be integrated into respectful relationships education. It's also recommending resources and training for teachers and other professionals.
From the anticipatory anxiety and stress of waiting for the trial, to recounting some of the most traumatic moments of their lives in front of a jury and the person who harmed them, the process of giving evidence during trial is described by many victim survivors as one of the hardest parts of the court process.
Our new report with Fair Agenda, launched on Tuesday, offers a comprehensive model for all states and territories across Australia to expand access to pre-recorded testimony, allowing victim-survivors to give their statements months—or even years—before a trial, in a setting that supports their safety and wellbeing.
Thank you to everyone who travelled from all across the state to join us at our AGM in Melbourne last week. It was wonderful to see you all, and to hear from our two guest speakers: Liana Buchanan, the Victorian Commissioner for Children and Young People, and Mark Dreyfus, the federal Attorney-General.
From sell out symposium on technology-facilitated sexual violence to a successful campaign for Justice Navigators, 2023-2024 was a pivotal year for SASVic.
If you weren't able to make it but would like a comprehensive overview of SASVic's work last financial year, you can read a digital copy of our annual report for 2023-2024 on our website.
ANROWS will be hosting a free online event to release a new research report, led by Professor Kerry Robinson, on sexual harassment of LGBTQ young people in the workplace.
Date: Tuesday 3 December
Time: (AEDT): 11.00am – 12.30pm
Location: Online via YouTube livestream
Earlier this week, independent journalist Nina Funnell launched the #TakeTheStand campaign in partnership with news.com.au to make the justice system less traumatic for victim survivors. The campaign aligns with much of what SASVic is advocating for, including "robust" funding for specialist sexual assault services and the introduction of Justice Navigators.
Contents
Featured
A grave injustice for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse
The Catholic Church in Victoria will be effectively freed from vicarious liability for abuse committed by priests before 2018, following a High Court ruling last week.
The High Court overturned a previous ruling that the Ballarat Diocese was legally responsible for historic child sexual abuse perpetrated by one of its priests, because priests, who are appointed under Cannon Law, don't have a formal employment contract with the Church.
The finding also has the potential to free other institutions, like foster care, scouts, sporting clubs and even schools from vicarious liability for child sexual abuse committed by volunteers before 2018.
We joined In Good Faith Foundation, Care Leavers Australasia Network and a number of victim survivors and advocates to write an open letter to Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes, encouraging her to amend legislation to ensure that churches cannot avoid liability for sexual abuse committed prior to 2018. South Australia and the Northern Territory have already made similar amendments.
New report: A model for pre-recorded testimony in sexual assault cases
From the anticipatory anxiety and stress of waiting for the trial, to recounting some of the most traumatic moments of their lives in front of a jury and the person who harmed them, the process of giving evidence during trial is described by many victim survivors as one of the hardest parts of the court process.
Our new report with Fair Agenda, launched on Tuesday, offers a comprehensive model for all states and territories across Australia to expand access to pre-recorded testimony, allowing victim-survivors to give their statements months—or even years—before a trial, in a setting that supports their safety and wellbeing.
Read our 2023-2024 annual report
Thank you to everyone who travelled from all across the state to join us at our AGM in Melbourne last week. It was wonderful to see you all, and to hear from our two guest speakers: Liana Buchanan, the Victorian Commissioner for Children and Young People, and Mark Dreyfus, the federal Attorney-General.
From sell out symposium on technology-facilitated sexual violence to a successful campaign for Justice Navigators, 2023-2024 was a pivotal year for SASVic.
If you weren't able to make it but would like a comprehensive overview of SASVic's work last financial year, you can read a digital copy of our annual report for 2023-2024 on our website.
ANROWS releases new guide on actions to improve children and young people's safety from family and sexual violence
For World Children's Day yesterday, ANROWS launched a guide consolidating its policy recommendations from over 20 research reports on children and young people's experiences of domestic, family and sexual violence. ANROWs describes the guide as being for policy actors, practice leaders and advocates. The guide identifies four principles to underpin reform:
- Systems of oppression intersect to create compounding forms of discrimination
- A rights-based approach upholds the dignity of all children and young people
- A clear authorising environment enables child-centred reform practice
- Where there is violence, there is resistance.
Grants
Preventing Tech-based Abuse of Women Grants Program, eSafety Commissioner
Up to $600,000 is available to organisations with a commitment to delivering projects with and for communities that focus on the prevention of tech-based abuse of First Nations women.
Due date: 16 December
Service Design & Improvement
Please send any questions you have about our work in this area to maria.papadontas@sasvic.org.au
Tomorrow: Join Zoe Belle Gender Collective for a transfemme practitioner workshop
This Trans Awareness Week, Zoe Belle Gender Collective is inviting you to attend its latest workshop for practitioners working in mental health and/ or gendered violence.
Lead by Juniper Muller and Starlady, this advanced interactive workshop for clinicians is based upon the ZBGC's new Transfemme Practice Guide: Responding to the objectification , fetishisation and sexual exploitation of trans women and trans feminine people by cisgender men.
Zoe Belle Gender Collective is inviting practitioners who have existing experience or knowledge in working with trans and gender diverse people to learn and contribute practice wisdom.
Date: Friday, 22 November
Time: 9:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Thorne Harbour Health training rooms, 200 Hoddle St Abbostford VIC
New anthology: The Loud Way Home
LGBTIQA+ survivors of sexual violence have shared their stories in a new anthology produced by ACON, a NSW-based queer community health organisation. The stories are told in various formats, from short stories to poems, songs and visual art.
Advocacy & evidence
Please send any questions you have about our work in this area to amy.webster@sasvic.org.au
Average age of first pornography exposure drops
The average age of girls' first exposure to pornography has dropped to 13.6, according to new research from Our Watch. The average age of first exposure was 16 as recently as 2018. The findings are from a survey of 832 young Australians aged 16 to 20, which also found that:
- almost a third (31%) of young people use porn as a form of sex education, though many recognise it is not a good way to learn about sex
- 72% of young people say pornography often shows aggression and violence against women
- 84% believe that porn pushes stereotypes of what is expected of men and women in sex.
Our Watch is recommending that age-appropriate pornography education be integrated into respectful relationships education. It's also recommending resources and training for teachers and other professionals.
Young men who see women as objects are more likely to be violent
New psychological experiments by researchers at the University of Melbourne show young men who see women as objects are more likely to be violent towards their partners. The men in the experiments completed implicit association tests and questionnaires about their violent behaviour, and even stabbed virtual voodoo dolls with the same names as their partners. The researchers argue that objectification is a distinct factor for predicting violent behaviour, separate from hostile sexist attitudes towards women.
ANROWS survey analysis reveals mistrust of police and government among First Nations Australians
New survey analysis by ANROWS shows less than half of First Nations Australians believe the police and government take violence against women in their communities seriously. The data comes from 442 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who answered the 2021 National Community Attitudes towards Violence Against Women Survey. ANROWs found that:
- 44% believed violence against women in their communities was taken seriously by police
- 36% believed it was taken seriously by the government
- 66% agreed services would maintain confidentiality of women reporting family violence
- respondents "strongly disagreed" with many, but not all, harmful attitudes towards family and sexual violence.
ANROWS said in a press release that the findings "signal the urgent need for systems-level reform to dismantle systemic racism and ensure culturally safe, trustworthy support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women".
Note that ANROWS does not compare First Nations survey results to non-First Nations results.
WGEA data: many workplaces not tracking sexual harassment
While almost all medium and large employers in Australia have a sexual harassment policy, more than 1 in 4 (28%) aren't tracking how prevalent it is in their workplaces.
The figures come from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).
More than 7,000 employers covering more than 5 million employees reported new information to WGEA in 2024, following the implementation of Recommendation 42 of the Respect@Work report. More stats include:
- 88% of workplaces offer training on workplace sexual harassment to their employees
- 85% of employers had their sexual harassment and discrimination policy reviewed by the CEO and 55% had it reviewed by the board.
Note that businesses with fewer than 100 employees aren't included in this data as they don't have to report to WGEA.
Workforce development
Please send any questions you have about our work in this area to emily.roberts@sasvic.org.au
Lead + Adapt applications are open
Take your leadership practice to the next level with Lead + Adapt.
Lead + Adapt is a professional development program for executive and senior leaders in Victoria working to end or respond to family, gender-based and sexual violence. The program runs over a period of three months and includes six all-day, in-person workshops and one to two hours a week of independent work. Dates will be announced shortly.
Applications for 2025 are now open until 9am Monday 25 November.
Legal policy
Please send an questions you have about our work in this area to jacqui.bell@sasvic.org.au
What is a digital duty of care?
Amid the chaos of an upcoming social media ban for kids under 16, the federal government made another policy announcement: a duty of care for digital platforms.
A duty of care is a "legal obligation to take reasonable steps to protect others from harm". The idea is that social media companies would have to be proactive about making their products safe, rather than just addressing harms after they've occurred. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in her announcement that the government would "ensure the regulator can draw on strong penalty arrangements" if a digital platform breached its duty of care, though did not specify what these penalties would be. The government also hasn't said which digital platforms the duty of care would cover.
The duty of care approach is a key recommendation from a yet-to-be-released independent review of Australia's Online Safety Act. Similar legal frameworks already exist overseas, including in the UK and EU.
Other news
Redress payments exempt from aged care means testing
Redress payments to survivors of child institutional sexual abuse will be exempt from the residential aged care means test from 2025.
Federal Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said in a press release "we’re making this change to remove payments from any aged care means test to ensure survivors are not financially disadvantaged when the time comes for them to access aged care services”.
The exemption will be made through data matching so survivors do not have to disclose their abuse again.
Free course: gender-responsive mental healthcare
Womens Health Victoria is offering its gender-responsive mental healthcare online course for free until 31 December 2024. Designed for mental health practitioners, health service managers and other leaders, the course will help practitioners develop foundational knowledge of how sex and gender shape mental health experiences, treatment and outcomes. The two-hour course also includes a foundational understanding of how gender-based violence impacts mental health.
#TakeTheStand Campaign by news.com.au
Earlier this week, independent journalist Nina Funnell launched the #TakeTheStand campaign in partnership with news.com.au to make the justice system less traumatic for victim survivors. The campaign aligns with much of what SASVic is advocating for, including "robust" funding for specialist sexual assault services and the introduction of Justice Navigators.
Article: the dark side of a booming wellness trend
"A sexual abuse survivor who was groomed and sexually touched by a new-age breathworker purporting to 'heal' her has shared how she was pressured and bullied into retracting parts of her story to save a business's reputation," writes Claire Sibthorpe in an investigation for The Sydney Morning Herald.
This isn't the first time journalists have investigated sexual violence in the wellness sector. Last year, SASVic gave a comment to the ABC for an article about sexual misconduct in the massage industry.
Follow SASVic for more updates.
Workforce training
Keep up to date with training and event opportunities for the sector by visiting the Workforce Training & Events page.
Bookings open now
If you are interested in registering for a training course, please speak with your manager. If you have any questions, please contact training@sasvic.org.au.
Working with Victim Survivors from a Migrant or Refugee Background
Join us on Tuesday 19 November from 10am to 1pm to improve your knowledge and skills for working with victim survivors from a refugee or migrant background. Hear speakers from InTouch, Multicultural Centre for Women's Health and WestCASA. Open to SASVic member services only. Free.
Introduction to the new Transfemme Practice Guide with Zoe Belle Gender Collective
Join SASVic, Starlady of Zoe Belle Gender Collective and CASA House on Tuesday 3 December, 9.45am to 11.15am, to learn more about 'Responding to the objectification, fetishisation and sexual exploitation of trans women and trans feminine people by cisgender men: A Transfemme Practice Guide'. Open to SASVic member services only. Free.
Webinars and events
Please check with your manager before registering, where appropriate.
Walk Against Family Violence
In Victoria, this event marks the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence – a global campaign for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.
Date: Friday 22 November
Time: 11am
Location: Birrarung Marr
Transfemme workshop
Zoe Belle Gender Collective is inviting practitioners who have existing experience or knowledge in working with trans and gender diverse people to learn and contribute practice wisdom.
Date: Friday, 22 November
Time: 9:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Thorne Harbour Health training rooms, 200 Hoddle St Abbotsford
Launch of new ANROWS report
ANROWS will be hosting a free online event to release a new research report, led by Professor Kerry Robinson, on sexual harassment of LGBTQ young people in the workplace.
Date: Tuesday 3 December
Time: (AEDT): 11.00am – 12.30pm
Location: Online via YouTube livestream
Margins to Mainstream launch
Join the online launch of Margins to Mainstream: Preventing violence against women with disabilities (M2M) and the Women's Health Service Network's (WHSN) bid for investment in the2025-26 Victorian state budget.
Date: Monday, 25 November
Time: 11:00 AM -12:00 PM
Location: Online
National Redress Scheme workshop
The National Redress Scheme supports survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. In this half-day workshop, eight Victorian redress support services are collaborating to provide you with detailed information about how to assist clients on their journey.
Date: Thursday, 5 December
Time: 1pm - 4:30pm
Location: Holiday Inn Dandenong
Changing the landscape webinar
Our Watch and Women with Disabilities Victoria will highlight new practice resources from Changing the landscape: A national resource to prevent violence against women and girls with disabilities in this webinar for prevention practitioners. The webinar will have an Auslan interpreter and captioning.
Date: Wednesday 11 December
Time: 1:00 - 2:30pm
Conferences
Sector calendar
Below are some of the meetings happening across the sector. Please contact the meeting chair to find out more, including how you can join networks or comittees related to your area of work and interests.
WD Standing Committee
The Workforce Development Standing Committee provides advice to SASVic and supports the ongoing implementation and development of education and training projects, including but not limited to the workforce development program.
Kayti Murphy
catherine.murphy@sasvic.org.au
Resources and links
SASVic and member details
SASVic organisational structure with staff names and positions
Specialist Sexual Assault Sector Map
Here is a map that helps people find their local specialist sexual assault service.
National Association of Services Against Sexual Violence
SASVic is a member of the National Association of Services Against Sexual Assault (NASASV).
Acronyms
Here is a list of acronyms. Please let us know if you've discovered any more we should add.
FVSV Knowledge Hub
The Family Violence Sexual Violence Knowledge on is a one-stop shop for practitioners, program managers, policymakers and funders to access the latest research, resources, case studies, webinars and training opportunities.