The New South Wales government has announced a $38 million prevention strategy to continue its fight against family violence.
The Pathways to Prevention: NSW Strategy for the Prevention of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence 2024-2027 will focus on three priorities: progressing prevention in priority settings, supporting Aboriginal-led prevention, and providing centralised support to prevention efforts across the state.
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Aiming to eliminate family and domestic violence before it starts, the commitment will see new initiatives developed for early education centres, schools, sporting clubs, workplaces and local communities.
The strategy will build on the NSW government’s other established programs, including Respectful Relationships and Tackling Violence and the All-In project to challenge gender stereotypes in early childhood.
More than 200 stakeholders, including Domestic Violence NSW and Our Watch, were consulted during the strategy’s development.
What the ministers are saying
Premier Chris Minns said NSW has a “long road ahead of us”, but the strategy is an “important step”.
“We need to invest in this work now to help prevent more lives being ended or ruined in years or even decades to come,” he said.
“This framework will be the foundation of our efforts to not just respond to violence once it has occurred, but to stop it before it starts.”
Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Jodie Harrison said: “The Pathways to Prevention strategy provides a holistic approach to stop violence before it starts and complements ongoing initiatives which support victim-survivors and ensure perpetrators are held to account”.
“We all have the right to be safe and respected and to live a life free of domestic, family and sexual violence.”
If you, or anyone you know needs help, there are many resources available:
1800 RESPECT: 1800 737 732
MensLine Australia: 1300 789 978
Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800
Lifeline: 13 11 14
If you are in need of immediate assistance, call Triple Zero (000)