The Office of the eSafety Commissioner welcomes the Government's $4 million funding announcement today for the Office to develop targeted training and support to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and women with intellectual disability who are abused, stalked or controlled through technology.
"Tailored training and resources to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and women with intellectual disability are absolutely critical, as we know they are at higher risk of experiencing technology-facilitated abuse than the broader community," says eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant.
"Further, our research shows that those who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander are twice as likely to experience image-based abuse—an increasingly common form of technology-facilitated abuse," continues Inman Grant.
"We will be working closely with communities, co-designing resources and training programs to empower women from these communities to better protect themselves online, and to identify and report technology-facilitated abuse," adds Inman Grant.
These programs form part of the Fourth Action Plan 2019-22 of the National Action Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children, and will include:
- $2.5 million over three years to co-develop and roll out a program of resources and training to frontline workers, to equip them with the specific tools needed to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women identify, report and protect themselves and their children from technology-facilitated abuse.
- $1.5 million over three years to develop and provide accessible and targeted resources and training for specialist frontline workers, to help women with intellectual disability identify, report and protect themselves from technology-facilitated abuse.
"We are pleased to be building on our existing eSafetyWomen program, extending advice and support to communities most in need," says Inman Grant.
The Office's eSafetyWomen program was launched in 2016 and has reached over 7,700 frontline domestic violence workers around the country, delivering informative face-to-face workshops to help clients protect themselves and their families online.
