The Andrews Labor Government is trialling a new $3.2 million initiative to target adults perpetrating family violence who pose a serious risk of harm to victim survivors.
The two-year pilot program is a world-leading initiative designed to specifically address the serious-risk group with a new dedicated response.
Funded in the Victorian Budget 2022/23, the program is designed to ensure the safety of victim survivors by increasing focus on the person who uses violence. It will deliver intensive interventions and individual behaviour change work through specialist family violence services and multi-agency collaboration to help prevent future harm.
Perpetrator accountability is a priority area in the Labor Government’s second Family Violence Reform Rolling Action Plan 2020-2023, with an emphasis on developing a system-wide approach to keeping perpetrators accountable and connected.
Beginning in the second half of 2023, the pilot program will be delivered by Good Shepherd in partnership with Peninsula Health in the Bayside Peninsula area, and Meli (formerly Bethany Community Support and Barwon Child Youth and Family) in the Barwon area.
Selection of a third service to deliver an Aboriginal-led pilot is also underway and the program will be tailored to meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Providers will work with a range of services and organisations within their local area including Victoria Police, Community Corrections, Child Protection, mental health services, family services, alcohol and other drug, and disability services.
The program is addressing a gap in the service system for more intensive, community-based interventions for serious-risk perpetrators who are unsuitable for participation in existing family violence programs, as identified in the 2016 Royal Commission into Family Violence and the 2019 Expert Advisory Committee on Perpetrator Interventions Report.
As stated by Minister for Prevention of Family Violence Ros Spence
“This pilot will boost efforts to directly engage the adult using family violence so they can take responsibility and stop their violent behaviours.”
“The Andrews Labor Government supports interventions that work, and this pilot program will provide critical evidence of effective men’s behaviour programs with serious-risk offenders.”
