Federal, state and territory governments have pledged to end violence against women and children in Australia within "one generation", although it is unclear if additional funding will be committed in next week's budget to support the ambitious goal.
The commitment is at the centre of a new, 10-year national strategy, designed to coordinate federal and state action to eliminate gender-based violence.
On average in Australia, a woman is killed by an intimate partner every 10 days, while one in three women has experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth unveiled the long-awaited blueprint in Melbourne, alongside Minister for Women Katy Gallagher and state representatives on Monday.
Speaking to the ABC ahead of the plan's release, Ms Rishworth said sustained effort would be required by successive governments to achieve the goal but would not be drawn on how many years it would take.
"I'm not going to give a specific number of years," Ms Rishworth told the ABC.
"Our commitment is to say that we don't want our children and our children's children to be dealing with the same issues."
The document — which has been approved by all state and territory cabinets — describes domestic, family, and sexual violence in Australia as a problem of "epidemic proportions".
"This National Plan is our commitment to a country free of gender-based violence – where all people live free from fear and violence and are safe at home, at work, at school, in the community and online," the plan states.
"Violence against women and children is not inevitable.
"By addressing the social, cultural, political and economic factors that drive this gendered violence, we can end it in one generation."
It outlines the need for improvements and increased investment across four key areas of prevention, early intervention, response, and recovery and healing.
Focus on recovery and healing
The emphasis on recovery will be welcomed by advocates who have long expressed the need for greater focus and funding to support victims heal from the trauma of violence.
Listed amongst the objectives of the plan is the need to ensure victims have access to trauma-informed and culturally safe services.
"We must look beyond the crisis response to ensure that women and children who have experienced violence can access support for their recovery and healing – and in doing so, achieve long-term improvements in their health and well-being," the plan states.
"They must also be sensitive to the age and circumstance of the victim-survivor and their cultural and religious needs.
"When victim-survivors are not supported to recover, they are at higher risk of being subjected to continued harm, experiencing poorer health and well-being, and being targeted by another perpetrator."
The new strategy also places a focus on recognising children and young people as "victims in their own right" and emphasises the need for engaging men and boys to help prevent violence.
"Research shows there are strong links between socially dominant forms and patterns of masculinity, men's sexist attitudes and behaviours, and men's perpetration of violence against women," the plan states.
"Having conversations with boys about healthy masculinity and self-expression are important steps, as is role modelling healthy relationships, positive masculine expression and respectful ways to be a boy and a man."
Future funding unclear
The plan will be implemented through two yet-to-be-released "five-year action plans" which will include specific "actions and investment" across all four areas.
Ms Rishworth would not comment on whether the upcoming budget would allocate extra funding towards achieving its objectives, beyond the $1.3 billion announced by the former government.
"We are going to deliver our election commitment as a starting point of more frontline workers or booster frontline workers," she said.
"We will continue to work through the action plans to look at how we deliver and focus our resources.
"It is about what is the quality of spending, in addition to the quantum."
Work is still underway on a standalone plan that will address the disproportionately high rates of violence experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children.
"We want to make sure we get the consultations right on that," Ms Rishworth said.
"One of the strong messages coming up is that the unique experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders must be recognised."
Measurable targets needed to track progress
A draft plan released by the Morrison government before the election was criticised by some experts for lacking clear and measurable targets.
While the finalised 150-page document does not include detailed targets, it does acknowledge that they will be required – along with better data collection – to help track progress.
"To ensure accountability, the National Plan requires ambitious and measurable targets to demonstrate progress over time towards ending gender-based violence," the plan states.
"Currently, data and data-sharing mechanisms are inadequate to provide quality measurements in relation to outcomes for victim-survivors and holding people who choose to use violence to account.
"Australia has limited data collection on perpetration and there are differences in measures and legal terms between jurisdictions."
The new strategy concedes that the previous National Plan, which had been in place since 2010 but expired earlier this year, failed to achieve its key objective of creating a significant and sustained reduction in violence over the 12-year period it was in place.
"The 2010–2022 National Plan did not succeed in its goal of reducing violence against women and children," the new plan states.
"The prevalence of violence against women and children has not significantly decreased during the last 12 years and reported rates of sexual assault continue to rise.
"While increases in reporting may be due to women feeling more supported to come forward and seek help, we must reduce the prevalence."
Violence against women and children is estimated to cost the Australian economy $26 billion each year, with victim-survivors themselves bearing around half of that cost.
Intimate partner violence is also the leading driver of homelessness and incarceration for women.
