Our Aboriginal communities and leaders in Victoria have been working for a long time to address the impacts of family violence and intergenerational trauma on our people. Our knowledge, our strength, and our voices continue to be at the heart of everything we do to end family violence and the devastating impacts it has on our people, families and communities.
As the Aboriginal members and champions of the Dhelk Dja 10 Year Agreement, Dhelk Dja Koori Caucus are pleased to present the secondDhelk Dja 3 Year Action Plan that will continue to transform and shape Dhelk Dja’s vision. The critical actions outlined in this plan represents our strategic priorities over the next three years.
The plan is deliberately ambitious with a particular focus on aligning to the Priority Reform areas under the Victorian Implementation Plan for Closing the Gap, including:
- Priority Reform One: Formal partnerships and shared decision-making
- Priority Reform Two: Building the community-controlled sector
- Priority Reform Three: Transforming government organisations
- Priority Reform Four: Shared access to data and information at a regional level
The launch of the Dhelk Dja 3 Year Action Plan 2023-2025 provides us with an opportunity to highlight the significant work undertaken in the first Dhelk Dja 3 Year Action Plan by our collective Dhelk Dja Action Groups, ACCO family violence sector and government partners in addressing the impacts of family violence and the intergenerational trauma on our people.
The establishment of an independent Dhelk Dja Koori Caucus Secretariat in 2021 supported the greater autonomy and transition of authority and decision making to Koori Caucus members. The establishment of the ACCO Family Violence Sector Forum, firstly in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020, continued as a formal consultation and engagement mechanism under the Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum to support the development of culturally safe services and responses for Aboriginal people impacted by family violence.
We have also enshrined the voice of victim-survivors by incorporating the Aboriginal members of the Victim Survivors Advisory Council as Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum and Koori Caucus members.
Koori Caucus led the design and prioritisation of activity under the $18.2 million Dhelk Dja Family Violence Fund. This fund was established over two years as a flexible pool of funding streams for eligible Aboriginal organisations and community groups to enable a range of Aboriginal-led tailored responses for victim-survivors and people who use violence. A total of 80 initiatives were funded across Aboriginal frontline family violence services, holistic healing, Preventing the Cycle of Violence and workforce development. These initiatives were underpinned by the Nargneit Birrang - Aboriginal holistic healing framework for family violence which was co-designed and endorsed by the Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum as a state-wide family violence holistic healing approach for Aboriginal communities.
Funding was provided to five Aboriginal services to design and test Victoria’s first ever culturally appropriate Aboriginal Sexual Assault Services. These services are based on holistic healing principles and support the expansion of specialised therapeutic support for Aboriginal Victorians who are victims of family violence and sexual assault.
The Aboriginal Family Violence Industry Strategy provided $3 million in scholarships through direct allocation to ACCOs to ensure the Aboriginal workforce have no barriers in attaining minimum qualifications under the Royal Commission into Family Violence Recommendation 209 – specialisation of the family violence workforce.
The Aboriginal Data Mapping and Data Needs project was undertaken to support the development of baseline understanding of Aboriginal family violence to build the evidence base for prevention and intervention. The defined data, indicators and measures developed will inform strategic decision making.
Two significant prevention projects were delivered including the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Mapping Initiative and the Aboriginal Family Violence Primary Prevention Research Project. The Mapping Initiative mapped five years (2016 to 2021) of government funded Aboriginal family violence prevention initiatives in Victoria. The research project acts as a companion piece to the Mapping Initiative and explores the application of evidencebased approaches from Victoria and Australia more broadly to prevent family violence in Aboriginal communities. This work will inform the refresh of the Indigenous Family Violence Primary Prevention Framework which will be integral in supporting Aboriginal communities to implement effective approaches to the prevention of family violence.
The Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum endorsed the unique Aboriginal Access Point service model which will deliver family violence services in a culturally safe and culturally responsive way, underpinned by self-determination through providing community driven, Aboriginal-led service choice for Aboriginal communities. Three Aboriginal Access Point services will commence in Bayside Peninsula, Barwon and Mallee areas providing a complementary service to The Orange Door.
The Aboriginal Inclusion Action Plan and Strengthening Cultural Safety in The Orange Doors ensure that services are supports are culturally safe. VACCA has been working with Family Safety Victoria to implement the Strengthening Cultural Safety in The Orange Doors in a way that is sustainable and locally driven by Aboriginal services and communities. Cultural Safety Project Leads, based in ACCOs across the state are delivering foundational cultural safety training modules tailored to The Orange Door, as part of the assessment of the cultural safety assessment of the service. This work enhances the implementation of the Aboriginal Inclusion Action Plan for The Orange Door.
Staying true to Dhelk Dja
We know there is still much more work to do.
We will continue to monitor our progress against the second 3 Year Action Plan against the Dhelk Dja Monitoring Evaluation and Accountability Plan using Aboriginal defined measures of success.
We recognise that Dhelk Dja is everyone’s business. Everyone, all services and all parts of government in Victoria are accountable for a future in which Aboriginal people live free from family violence. Only by working together and implementing Aboriginal solutions can we end family violence our way.
Koori Caucus members
Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum
Updated