Assessment of National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 in Australia

Social Policy

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References........................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
The major priority in the present scenario is to reduce violence of all types and variants from our
community. It is the responsibility of every social being to prevent violence and to stand against
it at all costs. The violence against women should not be accepted in any community, despite the
fact, various forms of violent behavior are still committed against women, out of which, sexual
assault and domestic violence are prevalent in Australia to a large extent (Australian
Government, 2018). There is a requirement of severe and immediate response to be made against
such violence because there are no strict provisions in the policies framed till now. The
Australian government is through the “National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and
their Children 2010-2022” is trying to bring significant decrease in the cruelty against women.
Far from simply understanding the reasons of such violence against women, the responses to the
expansion of the National Plan and this issue has been influenced by various competing
addresses regarding the issue, its causes and possible solutions. (Question 1) On the basis of
Bacchi’s policy analysis approach, this essay will assess the National Plan in accordance with the
Australian law and regulations (Department of Social Services, 2018).
Discussion
The National Plan is a most important policy agenda having the potential for achieving gender
equality and eliminating violence against females. Basically, it acts as the Australian policy
regarding reduction of sexual assault and family violence. It comprises of four Action Plans,
each for three years, aimed to develop a set of defined practical initiatives to deal with cruelty
against women and children in the society (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
2018). The National Plan focuses on reducing violence against females that are domestic

violence & sexual assault as these are continuously becoming unacceptably high. According to
the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), almost 33% of females have to face domestic violence
from the age of 15 years and 25% of females are sexually assaulted. Furthermore, more shocking
is the situation of indigenous females who are more likely to be hospitalized because of domestic
violence as compared to Australian females. The personal and emotional cost of violence is
immeasurable and its impact reaches to all the levels of society (Krantz & Garcia-Moreno,
2004). Such violence not only has negative impact on victims, but also on their children,
families, friends, colleagues and ultimately the entire community gets affected because of it
(Domestic violence in Australia, 2014). So, instead of only framing laws and policies, there strict
implementations along with strict provisions of punishments should be emphasized more upon as
it will develop deterrence among wrongdoers, then only, will they be discouraged to do such
acts. (Question 3)
Support of all
The government of Australia has been working continuously for reducing cruelty against females
and their children. The emphasis on legal reforms and community awareness has contributed a
lot in this direction. The Federal government is providing several services through family law,
which include social security system and legal support. The State and territory governments
provide support and services which include justice, monitoring and legal help for fatalities and
criminals. They also fund and organize various services offered by the private sector. While all
the governments have many highly effective services and programs in order to act in response to
cruelty faced by females and kids, there is need for using coordinated approach for improving the
response (Fry & Elliott, 2017). The National Plan is a step in this direction as it provides an
organized framework that improves the scope, efforts & success of the actions taken by