After the summit, are women safer?

It is a poor assumption to believe that following the federal government’s women’s safety summit in September the complex social, cultural and systemic issues that put Australian women at risk will go away. Here is what one experienced service-provider thinks should happen next.

According to Jacqui Watt, family violence is now core business for all governments in Australia.

“The sooner we find a way of understanding that and translating it to some action, to address getting in earlier to prevent the harm, the better,” Watt tells The Mandarin.

CEO of the Victorian-based not-for-profit No to Violence, which provides intervention support for men who may use violence against their families, Watt says there is nothing new about coercive control that people working in her field do not understand. 

She is buoyed by the strong expression of support from the government that truly and properly addressing the issue is now a national priority but says more must be done to bring commonwealth and state systems together...