A comprehensive national initiative is focusing on distorted ideas of gender equality as part of plans to tackle the “national emergency” of violence against women and children.



Our Watch was established by the commonwealth and Victorian governments last year, and on Friday revealed its strategy to achieve a complete rejection of domestic and family violence within 20 years.

One woman is killed by a current or former partner roughly every week. One in three women in Australia has experienced physical violence since the age of 15, and one in five has been the victim of sexual violence.

“It is a national emergency,” said Natasha Stott Despoja, the chairwoman of Our Watch and Australian ambassador to women and girls, at the initiative’s launch in Sydney. “There’s a reason the World Health Organisation has said violence against women is an epidemic, and it’s about time we address it.

“Our Watch will lead a new movement to inform, inspire and mobilise Australians to reject, recognise and eliminate all forms of violence against women.

“Only balanced investment over time across the spectrum of primary prevention through to response – including improving legislative, justice and service systems – will get us there.”

Our Watch will run a number of complementary programs and campaigns, derived from the government’s national plans to reduce violence against women.

It will develop a national violence prevention framework, engage media to improve reporting of domestic and family violence, drive public debate and encourage individuals to speak out.

The first group targeted with be 18- to 34-year-old men, who will be encouraged to speak out against sexist and discriminatory behaviour.

The Victorian minister for community services, Mary Wooldridge, said while the foundation was committed to achieving the goals, “we’re also realistic about the extent of the challenge, because the origins of the behaviours of those perpetrating violence come from deeply held views about gender equality”.

“They are embedded from an early age and reinforced by family behaviour, by peer groups, what children see in the media and in school and social environments they are involved with,” she said.

Wooldridge said an attitude survey by VicHealth in 2009 found that one in five men believed violence could be excused if people were so angry they temporarily lost control. An updated attitude survey was soon to be released but she understood a number of key indicators “are actually heading in the wrong direction”.

Wooldridge called on other states to join the commonwealth, Northern Territory, Victorian and South Australian governments in the campaign.

Priorities will be placed on working with children and young people, and within Indigenous communities, where the statistics of domestic violence are dramatically worse.

Bess Nungarrayi Price, the Northern Territory minister for community services and women’s policy, said this was a “conversation we must have” and talked of the devastating impact of domestic violence on Indigenous communities.

“I’ve seen what happens on the ground,” she said.

“It’s sad because my people think it’s the norm. Children grow up bearing the brunt of it all.”

The South Australian premier, Jay Weatherill, said, “This is about the role of men in our society.

“Fundamentally the image of women in [men’s] minds as they form relationships goes to the heart of the issue that we are facing here. Until we grapple with that question we’re not going to make the fundamental mileage we need to make on this important question.”

The chief of army, Lieutenant General David Morrison, told Guardian Australia it was up to men in senior positions of responsibility “to step up and say, ‘We’ve got to change.’ ”

Morrison spoke at a London summit on sexual violence earlier this year after gaining worldwide attention for his forthright response to incidents of sexual harassment, abuse and violence within the defence force.

“Every man should be looked up to by their children as someone who cares for them and cares for their partner and can live a life based on respect for men and women. That’s where we should be,” he said.

“[The army] recruits from the families of Australia. If the families of Australia are blighted by domestic violence – as they are – then we all have responsibility here to deal with these issues. Organisations like Our Watch and White Ribbon, of which I am also an ambassador, have a really important role to play in raising these issues into the national consciousness.”

Our Watch will use evidence-based programs and Australian Bureau of Statistics data to measure progress of four focus areas, and will publish yearly statements of priorities. Progress and evaluation reports will be delivered in 2017 and 2019.

A video of Our Watch supporters, including former governor general, Dame Quentin Bryce, Stella Young, Shane Jacobson, Tara Moss, Kelton Pell and Rosie Batty, seeks to draw attention to the impact of attitudes about gender on children, and is part of the greater awareness campaign to engage the community about reporting domestic violence and seeking help.

More than half of the female victims of domestic violence do not call the police. The minister assisting the prime minister for women, Michaelia Cash, told media that as the campaign increased awareness among women and children of their rights and the protections and services available to them, authorities could see a spike in reporting.

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because it means that more people are aware that violence against women and children is wrong,” said Cash.

“But in relation to what was said in the action plan … we are now going to primarily focus on prevention. We want to see the end of violence before it actually occurs.”

• If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000

• Editor’s note: This report was corrected on 17 September 2014 to remove a mistaken distillation of a 2004 VicHealth report which estimated the contribution intimate partner violence made to the overall burden on Victorian women’s health.

The report states that:

• In women under the age of 45 years, this type of violence is responsible for an estimated 8% of the total disease burden. It is less for older women and 3% of disease burden in all Victorian women.

• The greatest proportion of the disease burden is associated with anxiety and depression (62 per cent). Suicide, drug use and risky levels of smoking and alcohol consumption are also significant contributors.

• Intimate partner violence has a greater impact on the health of Victorian women under the age of 45 than any other risk factor. The burden contributed by this form of violence is greater than that for many other risk factors, such as obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and illicit drug use.

Statistics on violence towards women, updated to November 2013, are available at WhiteRibbon