In September 2021 the Australian government hosted the Women’s Safety Summit, with a goal of establishing a new National Plan to End Violence Against Women and their Children. Previous National Plans have not centred our voices and needs and the needs of our children. They have failed to reduce family violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. It’s long been clear that top-down, government responses to family violence make things worse, not better, for First Nations women, children and communities.
In this report Change the Record and the National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services Forum (the Forum) expand on our call for a genuinely self-determined National Plan to implement community-led responses to violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children. We call on the Australian government to respect and follow the expertise and leadership of First Nations women and communities and guarantee the resources and decision-making power required to end violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children.