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,
Did you see the ABC story about sexual violence in schools? Jessica Longbottom's article picked up many of the issues we've been raising with the Department of Education about the need for better responses to kids being sexually assaulted, including by other students, and we'll keep advocating for action. Not surprisingly, child sexual abuse was one of the areas we explored in our recent study tour. If you're interested in knowing more about where we visited and what we learned, you can read our reflections on the SASVic website and on LinkedIn. We'll share more about the study tour at the SASVic AGM - it would be great to see you there. You can sign up following the link below.
This edition we're bidding farewell to Kelly Harper from the Women's. Kelly, it's been great having you in the sexual assault sector - thanks for all you've done at SACL and CASA House, and we'll look forward to hearing what you do next.
As always, there's lots to read in this fortnight's update - and do let us know if there are other things you'd like us to cover.
Warmly,
Kathleen
CEO
SASVic
Sydney high school teacher Hannah Grundy found deepfake porn of herself online, only to discover that the person who created it was her close friend, Andrew Hayler.
Hayler had also made deepfakes of other women in their friendship group, some of which were accompanied by graphic descriptions of sexual violence fantasies.
He's now been sentenced to nine years in prison for 28 counts of using a carriage service to cause offence, but it took Hannah Grundy and her partner Kris spending over $20,000 on lawyers and a private detective to get the NSW Police to act.
Hannah Grundy told her story to ABC's Australian Story last week.
"The horrifying trial of mass rape in Mazan, France, has brought to light a chilling case of chemical submission, where a husband drugged his wife regularly to orchestrate her rapes," writes Sandrine Aragon in The Conversation.
"As the 51 defendants and their defence attorneys continue to deny the accusations despite overwhelming evidence, it raises important questions about the role of collective imagination in enabling sexual violence – particularly when fantasies of domination take such extreme forms."
Sandrine Aragon is a researcher at the Sorbonne specialising in French literature (gender, reading, women and culture). In her article for The Conversation, she traces the sleeping beauty trope through history, from Greek mythology to fairy tales to 20th century literature, then explores how these classics can be taught from a contemporary, feminist perspective.
"In a year where it is easy to feel deflated and as though we are moving backwards, we must not lose sight of evidence that tells us that intimate partner femicides are preventable," writes Kate Fitz-Gibbon in her newly published book, Our National Crisis: Violence Against Women & Children.
As many of you know, Kate Fitz-Gibbon is Chair of Respect Victoria, Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre and an Associate Professor of Criminology.
Monash University Publishing writes "In Our National Crisis, Fitz-Gibbon explains why violence against women and children is not a series of isolated incidents but a pervasive, systemic issue. The impacts of this violence on individuals, families and communities are wide-ranging and can be long-term. Addressing domestic, family and sexual violence requires a national effort across the full spectrum of prevention, early intervention, response, and recovery and healing."
You can read edited extracts from the new book in The Guardian, Women's Agenda and Crikey (behind a paywall if you've exceeded the free articles limit).
Four SASVic members were successful in receiving funding through La Trobe University's Reducing Gender-based Violence (ReGEN) Research Group's 'Partners in Prevention of Sexual Violence' program.
Congratulations to CASA Central Victoria, Centre Against Violence, Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre and WestCASA!
Lead researcher, Professor Leesa Hooker, said the project would "help determine what elements are most effective at preventing sexual violence and address the drivers and reinforcing factors of sexual violence".
Victorian students will be given skills to respond to the online 'manosphere' and Andrew Tate-types in updated Respectful Relationships Education resources. Developed by education academics Helen Cahill and Debbie Ollis, the updated resources cover gender norms, stereotypes and positive gender relations. Topics include:
- sexual violence
- affirmative consent
- pornography
- sextortion
- the media
- how students can access support.
The resources have information and activities for students from Foundation to Level 11-12.
The Victorian Government is also inviting more non-government schools to participate in the program.
The Australian Government is also funding three projects as part of a trial to promote and encourage healthy perceptions of masculinity among school-aged boys.
Researchers from Monash University write "while this week’s announcement is a welcome and necessary step, we need a more comprehensive plan to eliminate gender-based violence in our schools" in an analysis in The Conversation.
Globally, one in eight girls and women alive today experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18, according to new estimates by UNICEF. That's more than 370 million people.
When non-contact forms of sexual violence are included, the number becomes one in five.
The highest rates are in Australia's backyard; 34% of women and girls in Oceania are victim survivors.
Teenagers are most vulnerable, with a spike in incidents experienced by 14- 17-year-olds.
The estimates also found that one in 11 boys and men had experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18.
Ending violence against children is one of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 16.2) and there's a global ministerial conference coming up in Colombia on 7-8 November. Australia isn't on the list of countries attending.
A special UN report has described sexual harassment and violence towards women and girls in sport as "rampant". Rates of sexual violence are particularly high in relationships between coaches and athletes.
Women athletes also experience violence online through behaviours like sexual harassment and threats, racism, body shaming, stalking, image-based abuse ("revenge porn") and more.
Perpetrators include coaches, managers, spectators, teachers, peers, sports lawyers, referees and medical staff.
As Respect Victoria Chair Kate Fitz-Gibbon writes in The Conversation, "the UN report reminds us sports is a microcosm of society".
Fitz-Gibbon also has a call to action for Australia: "the safety of women and girls must be a key focus of the Australian High Performance “Win Well” strategy for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games".
The UN report came out only a week before news of the Greater Western Sydney Giants' disturbing end-of-season party, in which players engaged in sexist and racist acts. Some players dressed up as Jarryd Hayne and Sean "Diddy" Combs, while others performed skits depicting slavery and 9/11.
Only five months ago, Our Watch CEO Patt Kinnersly visited the Giants to speak with them about gendered violence.
Dr Stephanie Westacott writes in The Conversation, "Despite pledging support for ending gender-based violence in Australia, this incident proves problematic cultural problems persist within AFL clubs."
Two years since the legislation of 10 days' paid family and domestic violence leave, less than half of victim survivors (38%) are aware that it exists, and only 58% of employers are aware of the entitlement. Just 20% of casual workers know about it.
These figures come from an independent review by Flinders University, which was tabled in parliament on the 9th of October.
In more positive news, victim survivors who had accessed the leave overwhelmingly found it helpful, with 91% who were surveyed saying it had helped maintain their income and 89% saying it helped them retain their employment.
The review also noted that a few submissions had recommended extending the paid leave to victim survivors of sexual violence outside of "family" relationships. These submissions came from the Australian Services Union, Womens Legal Services Australia, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and the Australian Education Union.
However, the review didn't recommend broadening the scope of the entitlement in this way.
Recommendations from the review focused on raising awareness among disadvantaged groups and improving resources for small business employers.
The inadequacy of TikTok's content moderation systems has been revealed in leaked court documents in the US state of Kentucky, which filed a lawsuit against the platform.
The documents note that about 36% of content that "normalises pedophaelia" gets past moderation, as does about 50% of content that "glorifies minor sexual assault".
The documents also claim TikTok knows its design is detrimental to young users and that features meant to limit screen time were intended as a public relations tool, not to be effective.
This serves as yet another reminder that we can't trust tech giants to regulate themselves. We need our governments to hold them accountable.
Freedom of information documents obtained by the ABC show that Victorian public schools report an average of six incidents of 'child-on-child sexual abuse' to police every week of term.
About half of these come from primary schools (240 reports in 2022-23), with the remaining 242 coming from high schools.
The ABC says the documents didn't detail the specific incidents.
Researchers quoted in the ABC article point to widespread online pornography and harmful hyper-masculine ideologies on social media as drivers of sexual violence among adolescents. They say education on pornography is crucial.
This news comes just a few days after the Victorian Government released updated Respectful Relationships Education resources addressing pornography and Andrew Tate-type influencers (scroll down to the Prevention section to learn more).
There's also a similar "behaviour crisis" going on in NSW schools. In last fortnight's update, we included news that 799 sexual offences had been recorded on NSW school premises in the year to June 2024.
Kathleen is in contact with the ABC.
The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) has completed its review into the Client Incident Management System (CIMS). The new CIMS policy document will replace the current CIMS guide and is available on the CIMS webpage.
The Client Incident Management System: policy and guidance focuses on the safety and well-being of clients. It outlines the key actions and responsibilities of service providers and the department to manage client incidents.
The new child and young person MARAM practice guidance and tools are in the final stages of development, with testing and consultation taking place this month.
The practice guidance and tools aim to support professionals working with children and young people experiencing family violence, and young people using family violence in the home and in intimate partner relationships. It will also support professionals to identify and respond to wellbeing needs for children and young people.
Family Safety Victoria said "to prepare for the upcoming release of the new resources Departments and agencies can start identifying policies, procedures and capability uplift requirements that will support workforces to engage directly with children and young people, including through existing MARAM alignment activities".
The specialist sexual assault sector was consulted as part of the development of the child and young person MARAM framework.
November is Trans Month and 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 AEDT
Location: Thorne Harbour Health training rooms, 200 Hoddle St Abbostford VIC
Not Alone, a trauma information group for gay men who experienced childhood trauma, has been postponed until the new year to enable more participants to attend. The group will now run weekly from Thursday 20 February to Thursday 10 April 2025.
Promotion for the group will continue over the next few months and ECASA intake will continue to respond to phone enquiries and schedule intake appointments.
You can view the updated flyer by clicking the link below.
SASVic is writing a paper on child sexual exploitation (CSE), similar to our discussion paper on the impacts of pornography.
We'd like to draw on your expertise to inform our understanding of child sexual exploitation, including what is currently happening in the sector, gaps, barriers, and what you'd like to see in the future.
Please send in your thoughts by Thursday, 14 November, via the survey linked below.
The National Association of Services Against Sexual Violence is recruiting its first executive officer!
This will be a part time position (0.6 FTE) with an initial contract of 12 months.
The location is flexible, but the candidate will ideally be based in an eastern state, with the opportunity to work from the SASVic office if based in Melbourne.
To apply, email your resume and cover letter to Nicci Lambert by Wednesday 6 November (contact details in job listing).
The Victorian Government is now accepting applications for grants as part of a second phase of the ‘Working Together: Strengthening Family and Sexual Violence Support’ grant program.
The ‘Working Together’ 2025-2027 grant program aims to strengthen collaboration between multicultural community organisations and specialist family and sexual violence services so that victim survivors or people using violence from multicultural communities can access culturally responsive, safe and tailored supports.
There is a family violence and a sexual violence stream.
Family Safety Victoria will be holding two online information sessions, to provide an overview of the grant program, types of projects that it's are looking to fund, and an opportunity to ask questions.
Applications close on Monday 18 November at 10am.
Information session 1:
1.00pm Thursday 24 October 2024
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 448 954 737 388
Passcode: mXkncx
Information session 2:
1.00pm Tuesday 29 October 2024
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 439 191 615 839
Passcode: hNePNx
For more information about this grant program or any other questions, please contact the Working Together team at Family Safety Victoria at inclusionandequity@familysafety.vic.gov.au
A resource hub for the community services workforce supporting victim survivors of family violence and sexual violence was launched on Tuesday by Vicki Ward, MP, Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence.
The Family Violence Sexual Violence Knowledge Hub (The FVSV Hub) provides a one-stop shop for practitioners, program managers, policymakers, and funders to access the latest research, resources, case studies, webinars and training opportunities—all designed to strengthen practice responses and improve outcomes for victim-survivors, their families, and the community.
Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Vicki Ward said: “Victoria’s nation-leading work to prevent and respond to family violence and violence against women is based on solid evidence that is always evolving.
Dr Monica Campo, SASVic's Senior Officer, Research and Knowledge Translation, said "The FVSV hub is not just a valuable resource for up-to-date research and practice evidence but an opportunity for the sexual assault sector to highlight and share the work we do and improve access to best practice and on the ground expertise from our sector"
"We encourage you all to submit research, resources, evaluations, fact sheets, case studies and anything else you think will be relevant".
The FVSV Hub is a collaboration between the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, No to Violence, Safe and Equal, and SASVic and funded by the Commonwealth Government through the National Partnership Agreement and by the Victorian Government.
Contents
Featured
New online hub brings research, resources, case studies, webinars and training opportunities to one place
A resource hub for the community services workforce supporting victim survivors of family violence and sexual violence was launched on Tuesday by Vicki Ward, MP, Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence.
The Family Violence Sexual Violence Knowledge Hub (The FVSV Hub) provides a one-stop shop for practitioners, program managers, policymakers, and funders to access the latest research, resources, case studies, webinars and training opportunities—all designed to strengthen practice responses and improve outcomes for victim-survivors, their families, and the community.
Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Vicki Ward said: “Victoria’s nation-leading work to prevent and respond to family violence and violence against women is based on solid evidence that is always evolving.
Dr Monica Campo, SASVic's Senior Officer, Research and Knowledge Translation, said "The FVSV hub is not just a valuable resource for up-to-date research and practice evidence but an opportunity for the sexual assault sector to highlight and share the work we do and improve access to best practice and on the ground expertise from our sector"
"We encourage you all to submit research, resources, evaluations, fact sheets, case studies and anything else you think will be relevant".
The FVSV Hub is a collaboration between the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, No to Violence, Safe and Equal, and SASVic and funded by the Commonwealth Government through the National Partnership Agreement and by the Victorian Government.
Grant applications open
The Victorian Government is now accepting applications for grants as part of a second phase of the ‘Working Together: Strengthening Family and Sexual Violence Support’ grant program.
The ‘Working Together’ 2025-2027 grant program aims to strengthen collaboration between multicultural community organisations and specialist family and sexual violence services so that victim survivors or people using violence from multicultural communities can access culturally responsive, safe and tailored supports.
There is a family violence and a sexual violence stream.
Family Safety Victoria will be holding two online information sessions, to provide an overview of the grant program, types of projects that it's are looking to fund, and an opportunity to ask questions.
Applications close on Monday 18 November at 10am.
Information session 1:
1.00pm Thursday 24 October 2024
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 448 954 737 388
Passcode: mXkncx
Information session 2:
1.00pm Tuesday 29 October 2024
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 439 191 615 839
Passcode: hNePNx
For more information about this grant program or any other questions, please contact the Working Together team at Family Safety Victoria at inclusionandequity@familysafety.vic.gov.au
Average of six 'child-on-child sexual abuse' incidents reported by schools every week
Freedom of information documents obtained by the ABC show that Victorian public schools report an average of six incidents of 'child-on-child sexual abuse' to police every week of term.
About half of these come from primary schools (240 reports in 2022-23), with the remaining 242 coming from high schools.
The ABC says the documents didn't detail the specific incidents.
Researchers quoted in the ABC article point to widespread online pornography and harmful hyper-masculine ideologies on social media as drivers of sexual violence among adolescents. They say education on pornography is crucial.
This news comes just a few days after the Victorian Government released updated Respectful Relationships Education resources addressing pornography and Andrew Tate-type influencers (scroll down to the Prevention section to learn more).
There's also a similar "behaviour crisis" going on in NSW schools. In last fortnight's update, we included news that 799 sexual offences had been recorded on NSW school premises in the year to June 2024.
Kathleen is in contact with the ABC.
NASASV job opportunity
The National Association of Services Against Sexual Violence is recruiting its first executive officer!
This will be a part time position (0.6 FTE) with an initial contract of 12 months.
The location is flexible, but the candidate will ideally be based in an eastern state, with the opportunity to work from the SASVic office if based in Melbourne.
To apply, email your resume and cover letter to Nicci Lambert by Wednesday 6 November (contact details in job listing).
Service Design & Improvement
Please send any questions you have about our work in this area to maria.papadontas@sasvic.org.au
"Nothing about us, without us": New Peer Relationships Education Partners (PREP) Program for people with cognitive disability
Gippsland CASA is running a new program to help people with cognitive disability learn about consent, respectful relationships and being safe. Delivered by a team of peer educators, the program includes educational resources, opportunities for social connection, group education sessions and professional development for support workers and those who work with people with disability.
GCASA is working with New Wave Gippsland, Gippsland Disability Advocacy and the Federation University Collaborative Evaluation Research Centre on the program.
Get the Go-Ahead: free presentations on offer to learn about this new resource for young adults with disability
Women's Health East and Youth Disability Advocacy Service are launching a new collection of resources about affirmative consent, sexual and reproductive rights, and prevention of gendered violence for young adults with disability.
Get the Go-Ahead will be officially launched at an event on Monday 28 October.
Women's Health East is also offering free presentations in which they'll showcase the resources, talk to staff about how to use them and share a bit about how they were created.
Presentations can be in-person or online, depending on what suits your organisation. They can be 20 minutes to fit into an existing meeting, or a dedicated hour workshop.
Please email Kochava, klilit@whe.org.au, if you have any questions or would like to book a presentation.
Upcoming grant round for Working Together: Strengthening Family and Sexual Violence Support with Multicultural Communities
Phase Two of the Working Together: Strengthening Family and Sexual Violence Support with Multicultural Communities program will open in October.
Grants will be offered over two years to partnership projects focused on supporting system integration between multicultural organisations and specialist family and sexual violence services, to reduce barriers and improve responses to victim survivors from multicultural communities.
Applications will be invited from partnerships of at least one multicultural community organisations and one specialist family and/or sexual violence services.
There will be two streams:
- Stream 1: focused on service system integration with multicultural community organisations and specialist family violence services
- Stream 2: focused on service system integration with multicultural community organisations and specialist sexual violence services, including raising awareness of sexual violence service support in communities.
You may apply for one or both streams. Projects that have been extended from Phase 1 of the grants program can only apply for the new Stream Two (sexual violence).
We will send around the grant guidelines, application form and details about the October information session, when it becomes available.
Advocacy & evidence
Please send any questions you have about our work in this area to amy.webster@sasvic.org.au
Tell us your experiences responding to child sexual exploitation
SASVic is writing a paper on child sexual exploitation (CSE), similar to our discussion paper on the impacts of pornography.
We'd like to draw on your expertise to inform our understanding of child sexual exploitation, including what is currently happening in the sector, gaps, barriers, and what you'd like to see in the future.
Please send in your thoughts by Thursday, 14 November, via the survey linked below.
TikTok moderatoration allegedly misses large amount of disturbing content
The inadequacy of TikTok's content moderation systems has been revealed in leaked court documents in the US state of Kentucky, which filed a lawsuit against the platform.
The documents note that about 36% of content that "normalises pedophaelia" gets past moderation, as does about 50% of content that "glorifies minor sexual assault".
The documents also claim TikTok knows its design is detrimental to young users and that features meant to limit screen time were intended as a public relations tool, not to be effective.
This serves as yet another reminder that we can't trust tech giants to regulate themselves. We need our governments to hold them accountable.
Paid FDV leave is helping victim survivors, but few are aware it exists
Two years since the legislation of 10 days' paid family and domestic violence leave, less than half of victim survivors (38%) are aware that it exists, and only 58% of employers are aware of the entitlement. Just 20% of casual workers know about it.
These figures come from an independent review by Flinders University, which was tabled in parliament on the 9th of October.
In more positive news, victim survivors who had accessed the leave overwhelmingly found it helpful, with 91% who were surveyed saying it had helped maintain their income and 89% saying it helped them retain their employment.
The review also noted that a few submissions had recommended extending the paid leave to victim survivors of sexual violence outside of "family" relationships. These submissions came from the Australian Services Union, Womens Legal Services Australia, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and the Australian Education Union.
However, the review didn't recommend broadening the scope of the entitlement in this way.
Recommendations from the review focused on raising awareness among disadvantaged groups and improving resources for small business employers.
New UNICEF estimates: one in eight girls experience sexual assault before they're 18
Globally, one in eight girls and women alive today experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18, according to new estimates by UNICEF. That's more than 370 million people.
When non-contact forms of sexual violence are included, the number becomes one in five.
The highest rates are in Australia's backyard; 34% of women and girls in Oceania are victim survivors.
Teenagers are most vulnerable, with a spike in incidents experienced by 14- 17-year-olds.
The estimates also found that one in 11 boys and men had experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18.
Ending violence against children is one of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 16.2) and there's a global ministerial conference coming up in Colombia on 7-8 November. Australia isn't on the list of countries attending.
Sports' culture of violence against women in the news
A special UN report has described sexual harassment and violence towards women and girls in sport as "rampant". Rates of sexual violence are particularly high in relationships between coaches and athletes.
Women athletes also experience violence online through behaviours like sexual harassment and threats, racism, body shaming, stalking, image-based abuse ("revenge porn") and more.
Perpetrators include coaches, managers, spectators, teachers, peers, sports lawyers, referees and medical staff.
As Respect Victoria Chair Kate Fitz-Gibbon writes in The Conversation, "the UN report reminds us sports is a microcosm of society".
Fitz-Gibbon also has a call to action for Australia: "the safety of women and girls must be a key focus of the Australian High Performance “Win Well” strategy for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games".
The UN report came out only a week before news of the Greater Western Sydney Giants' disturbing end-of-season party, in which players engaged in sexist and racist acts. Some players dressed up as Jarryd Hayne and Sean "Diddy" Combs, while others performed skits depicting slavery and 9/11.
Only five months ago, Our Watch CEO Patt Kinnersly visited the Giants to speak with them about gendered violence.
Dr Stephanie Westacott writes in The Conversation, "Despite pledging support for ending gender-based violence in Australia, this incident proves problematic cultural problems persist within AFL clubs."
Other news
Deepfakes on Australian Story
Sydney high school teacher Hannah Grundy found deepfake porn of herself online, only to discover that the person who created it was her close friend, Andrew Hayler.
Hayler had also made deepfakes of other women in their friendship group, some of which were accompanied by graphic descriptions of sexual violence fantasies.
He's now been sentenced to nine years in prison for 28 counts of using a carriage service to cause offence, but it took Hannah Grundy and her partner Kris spending over $20,000 on lawyers and a private detective to get the NSW Police to act.
Hannah Grundy told her story to ABC's Australian Story last week.
Article: does literature, with its sleeping beauties, glorify rape?
"The horrifying trial of mass rape in Mazan, France, has brought to light a chilling case of chemical submission, where a husband drugged his wife regularly to orchestrate her rapes," writes Sandrine Aragon in The Conversation.
"As the 51 defendants and their defence attorneys continue to deny the accusations despite overwhelming evidence, it raises important questions about the role of collective imagination in enabling sexual violence – particularly when fantasies of domination take such extreme forms."
Sandrine Aragon is a researcher at the Sorbonne specialising in French literature (gender, reading, women and culture). In her article for The Conversation, she traces the sleeping beauty trope through history, from Greek mythology to fairy tales to 20th century literature, then explores how these classics can be taught from a contemporary, feminist perspective.
Kate Fitz-Gibbon releases new book
"In a year where it is easy to feel deflated and as though we are moving backwards, we must not lose sight of evidence that tells us that intimate partner femicides are preventable," writes Kate Fitz-Gibbon in her newly published book, Our National Crisis: Violence Against Women & Children.
As many of you know, Kate Fitz-Gibbon is Chair of Respect Victoria, Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre and an Associate Professor of Criminology.
Monash University Publishing writes "In Our National Crisis, Fitz-Gibbon explains why violence against women and children is not a series of isolated incidents but a pervasive, systemic issue. The impacts of this violence on individuals, families and communities are wide-ranging and can be long-term. Addressing domestic, family and sexual violence requires a national effort across the full spectrum of prevention, early intervention, response, and recovery and healing."
You can read edited extracts from the new book in The Guardian, Women's Agenda and Crikey (behind a paywall if you've exceeded the free articles limit).
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.