Campaspe Family Violence Action Group held a ‘Collaborating For Change’ Service Provider Forum on Tuesday, May 21, with expert keynote speakers.
Dungala Events Centre welcomed key figures including Liana Buchanan, the principal commissioner for Children and Young People; Conor Pall, deputy chair of the Victim Survivor Advisory Council; Sakshi Puri, a youth council member; and Margaret Augerinos, chief executive of the Centre for Non-Violence.
Ms Buchanan has worked in family violence advocacy in many roles, specifically focusing on response to children and young people. She became the principal commissioner for Children and Young People in April, 2016.
“It’s so valuable to have a group of people working in family violence who are focused on trying to improve responses to family violence,” she said.
“I want to make sure that they’re paying attention to children and young people in those improvements.
“Too often, children and young people are not squarely understood as victims of family violence. They can be invisible.
“Part of my job ... is to try, and make sure that we are not only improving responses to family violence across the board and trying to prevent family violence, but actually, we’re keeping children in view and we do that.”
The event was directed at service providers, from industries like health, counselling crisis support, education and emergency services.
Mr Pall used his experience as a victim-survivor to emphasise that children and young people should be involved in conversations about family violence.
“The 2016 Royal Commission (into Family Violence) identified children and young people as the invisible victims of family violence,” he said.
“And we’re now eight years on, and not much has changed for children and young people.
“I think that the change and reforms that are needed at both a government and organisational level can’t be done about and around children and young people, who are victims in our own right.
“They need to be done with children and young people because we can’t have adults deciding what is best for us.
“Today is an awesome opportunity to impact the practice of professionals working in the field and working directly with victim-survivors.”
Keynote address topics were about family violence reform, exploring the impact of the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence, and transformations and future directions.
In her keynote address, Ms Buchanan acknowledged the progress that has been made in family violence prevention since the 2016 Victorian Royal Commission, but stressed the need for more to be done.
“We’ve got law reform to embed and mandate family violence risk assessment across so many different services,” she said.
“We’ve got Respect Victoria, the prevention agency; Respectful Relationships, education in schools; work the police have done; the Leadership Academy; and much, much more.
“I’ve got to say that when I look at the scale of reform, the scale of investment, the scale of change, relatively little attention has been paid to children and young people.
“If I’m blunt, I’m yet to see that investment and the reform translate into meaningful change in the way we deliver services, and whether there even exists a service response for children and young people.”
Mr Pall believes that children are often ignored in family violence situations and are grouped together with their victim-survivor parent.
“Acknowledging that children, young people are not extensions of their victim-survivor parents’ experiences,” he said.
“We don’t just witness family violence, we experience different things than our victim-survivor parents.
“I just think it looks like having a worker or having a service that advocates for that to be recognised more broadly, both with the victim-survivor parent, if they're involved, but also with the broader system and schools, as well.”
Sakshi Puri felt the system failed to support her during her experience with family violence. She also wants children to be listened to and respected in their own right.
“I just wish someone advocated for me, someone listened to my experience,” she said.
“Having counsellors ... it just felt like that was a court proceeding in itself.
“It wasn’t where I felt like the person was really there to support me or my family.”
To prevent family violence, Ms Buchanan said that it takes a collaborative effort from a community. She believes education is a critical first step.
“Family violence is a whole community responsibility,” she said.
“I just encourage everybody to inform themselves about family violence, inform themselves about how gender inequity is the driver of family violence, and, of course, inform themselves about the impact of family violence.
“This is not an unusual phenomenon, so we need to make sure that we have the supports and the services in place to support children and young people.”
For those needing help, contact:
The Orange Door in Loddon, 1800 512 359, loddon@orangedoor.vic.gov.au
Centre for Non-Violence, 1800 884 292 open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, cnv.org.au/we-are-here-to-help
24-HOUR CRISIS RESPONSE
Safe Steps, 1800 015 188, www.safesteps.org.au
Sexual Assault Crisis Line, 1800 806 292
Men’s Referral Service, 1300 766 491
In an emergency call 000.