What's happening in Australia?
Although the States and Territories have primary responsibility for the criminal justice system, the Australian Commonwealth government has, in the past, coordinated a National Community Crime Prevention Program and also an Inter-ministerial Committee with all states, territories and the New Zealand government. This work currently appears to be under review, and most of the links to the Australian Institute of Criminology’s site on “
Community and Local Crime Prevention” are out of date.
The Commonwealth government has established a
National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children, which should report in 2009.
What’s happening in Victoria?
The current Victorian Government has prioritised community safety, including both private and public violence. Their initial policy document
Growing Victoria Together (2001) listed “building friendly, confident, and safe communities” as one of its ten priorities. Regular
progress reports have measured achievements towards these goals, including reductions in violent crime and fear of violent crime.
In 2005, the Government released
A Fairer Victoria: the Victorian Government Social Policy Action Plan, whose priorities include “responding to family violence more effectively” and “developing better ways of working together at the regional and local levels”.
The Victorian Government is currently working on a
strategy to prevent family violence, which should report in 2009.
In this work, it has been influenced by the research and advocacy of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation on
Preventing Violence Before it Occurs.
What’s happening at the local level in Victoria?
Fewer than half Victoria’s local governments have a community safety, crime prevention or family violence strategy, and public and private violence are poorly integrated within these strategies. However, beyond the project itself, there are a number of other Victorian Councils which are working in this area to increase awareness, advocate on the issue and improve service provision.
An overview of this work is found in the GLOVE report:
The Western and Northern Metro Region Municipalities have been particularly active:
The City of Darebin has consistently been identified as a best practice in its community safety work. Its
Community Health and Safety Program integrates a broad vision of a set of issues (substance abuse, community health, and community safety) with regular research and updates. Within the Safety Program, the
Family Violence Working Group has been in practice since 2002. Their resources on Multicultural Diversity are also excellent which include: