Today is the National Day of Recognition for survivors of Sexual Assault and Institutional Abuse.
It is an important day for all Tasmanians to commemorate the courage and journeys of victim-survivors of Sexual Assault and Institutional abuse, their families and friends, and for advocates who have spoken out to protect Tasmanians at risk.
Horrendous acts of abuse are a whole of community issue and we need all Tasmanians to work together to eliminate this scourge. Everyone has a responsibility to challenge and address the underlying gendered drivers of violence, and to change community attitudes.
Since the launch of Tasmania's first nation-leading Action Plan in 2015, the Tasmanian Liberal Government has invested more than $100 million to respond to family and sexual violence and has a long-term commitment to our community to eliminate family and sexual violence.
Our vision is for a Tasmania where everyone is safe, equal and respected, and our homes and communities are free from family and sexual violence.
This year's State Budget committed a further $37.4 million to prevention and response initiatives, including $15.1 million for the Tasmanian-first pilot of two Multidisciplinary Centres, one in the North and one in the South, to provide walk-in wrap-around support for victim-survivors.
These centres will ensure that victim-survivors can immediately access the specialist support services they need, and when they are ready, they will be able to report the violence to specialist police investigators on site.
I am honoured to now be finalising the development of our third Family and Sexual Violence Action Plan to ensure victim-survivors receive immediate and integrated support in a safe place.
Our Action Plan is flexible and adaptive to continue to meet the needs of the Tasmanian community and has been informed by extensive consultation with stakeholders, including our 2022 Hearing Lived Experience Survey, which for the first time sought to understand the experiences and needs of victim-survivors of sexual violence.
The Action Plan also provides five-year contracts and funding certainty to Tasmania's specialist counselling services to enable increased operational capacity to respond to demand over the longer term.
Tasmania's family and sexual violence specialist counselling services are the backbone of our response and I would like to thank them for their continued dedication and hard work to provide their critically important role in helping victim-survivors of family and sexual violence in our community.
I would also like to thank those Tasmanians who have so bravely shared their stories through our survey, shaped our approach and continue to inform our ongoing response.
If you or someone you know is impacted by family violence, please call the Safe at Home Family Violence Response and Referral Line on 1800 633 937.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual violence, please call the state-wide Sexual Assault Crisis Line on 1800 697 877.
In an emergency, always call 000.
