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The rhetoric and reality of preventing family violence at the local governance level in Victoria, Australia
Carolyn Whitzman
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning, University of Melbourne, VIC
Tracy Castelino
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning, University of Melbourne, VIC
Abstract
This is an opportune time to review current policies and plans for responding to family violence in Australia. The recently elected Labor government has developed new promises and plans to respond to violence.
Both the community sector and the various government tiers have used many terms
to describe family violence, violence against women, community safety, and
crime and violence. This article argues that the terms used matter for the
formation, communication and implementation of policies and programs.
In particular this article will explore how family violence prevention at the local governance is influenced by state and federal communications and policies. In the State of Victoria, Australia, local government-community partnerships have been key to engaging the whole community on women's issues and women's experiences of violence in the home by intimate partners and to the development of programs and projects that are innovative and responsive to local priorities and politics.
But this work has occurred within a shifting and sometimes contradictory set of policies at the federal and state level. We have selected Maribyrnong as a case to highlight the relationship between state government rhetoric and funding, and local government responses to family violence.
Keywords
family violence, gender, local governance, Australia, Victoria
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