Jacquie Petrusma,Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence
Eliminating family violence is a top priority for the Tasmanian Liberal Government. Since the launch of our first, nation-leading Action Plan in 2015, our Government has continued to build upon its commitment, investment and scope in responding to family and sexual violence in Tasmania.
Recent national conversations have highlighted the importance of hearing from people with lived experience, which is why the Tasmanian Liberal Government is putting the voices of victim-survivors at the centre of our approach in developing our third Family and Sexual Violence Action Plan.
Today I am delighted to launch the opening of the community consultation process which will inform our next Action Plan.
Our collaborative approach has been developed in consultation with community sector service providers and victim-survivors of family and sexual violence.
There are five key elements of our community consultation:
* Hearing Lived Experience Survey 2022
* Establishing a Victim-Survivor Advisory Council
* Targeted workshops with key stakeholders, including a focus on diverse communities and priority areas for action
* Partnering with Tasmanian Aboriginal community-controlled organisations
* Public written submissions
The Hearing Lived Experience Survey 2022 is an online public survey of adult victim-survivors with lived experience of family and sexual violence.
The Survey will be open for 12 months and builds on our ground-breaking 2018 Survey by including victim-survivors' lived experience of sexual violence in addition to family violence.
I would like to thank Mayor of the Northern Midlands Council Mary Knowles for agreeing to be our Consultation Ambassador, and acknowledge her tireless work advocating for family and sexual violence as a victim-survivor herself. Mary will feature in our state-wide advertising campaign to encourage other victim-survivors to share their story.
The survey will be promoted through our family and sexual violence service providers, community newspapers, social media and radio to help get the message out to every corner of Tasmania.
The Survey can be accessed through www.safefromviolence.tas.gov.au, the Tasmanian Government's central portal for information and advice about family and sexual violence. There will also be a QR code on posters so Tasmanians can access the Survey directly from their phones.
For those who can't access the internet, a shortened version of the Survey will be available as a hard-copy booklet from Service Tasmania outlets or your local Neighbourhood House in March.
As well as the survey, our Government is establishing Tasmania's first ever Victim-Survivor Advisory Council.
The Advisory Council will inform our next Action plan as well as provide ongoing advice to the Government during the life of the Action Plan, ensuring our policy and program design continues to be informed by lived experience.
In addition to the Survey and our Advisory Council, the Department of Communities Tasmania will in March also seek public written submissions.
We will also partner with Tasmanian Aboriginal community-controlled organisations to develop specific strategies and actions under our third Action Plan.
The new Action Plan will be released in July 2022 and will build on our successes, and further refine and target our efforts, to achieve our goal that every Tasmanian is able to live free from violence.
If you or someone you know is impacted by family violence, please call the Family Violence Response and Referral Line 24/7 on 1800 633 937.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual violence, please call the Statewide Sexual Assault Crisis Line 24/7 on 1800 697 877.
In an emergency, always call 000.
