Family Safety Victoria established

A dedicated family violence agency will be set up for the first time in Victoria next month to co-ordinate and deliver better access to help, protection and support to end family violence.

Family Safety Victoria will be established as Administration Office alongside the Department of Health and Human Services and will deliver key initiatives to keep women and children safe and hold perpetrators to account.

Supported by the Victorian Government's historic $1.9 billion investment, Family Safety Victoria will:

• establish and operationalise the 17 Support and Safety Hubs
• coordinate family violence and other services accessed through the Hubs
• ensure that phone and internet inquiries are referred to the relevant Hubs in operating hours and are connected to a state-wide service response after hours
• implement a family violence information sharing regime
• establish and operationalise the new Central Information Point (CIP), which will allow police, courts and government services to track perpetrators, keeping victims safe
• redevelop the Family Violence Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework
• deliver the Industry Plan
• establish and house the new Centre for Workforce Excellence to build workforce capacity and capability in partnership with the sector

Family Safety Victoria will be at the centre of collaborative approaches to ensure victim survivors remain at the heart of the reforms.

It will ensure that the expertise of the family violence sector will shape the way reforms are delivered and embedded more broadly across social services, and will collaborate with a diverse range of groups to ensure responses are safe, accessible and culturally appropriate.

Recruitment is underway to appoint a CEO for Family Safety Victoria. The CEO will be responsible for supporting FSV's establishment and delivering Government’s commitments on family violence reform.

The CEO will be accountable to the Special Minister of State, Gavin Jennings MP, and the Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews MP.

FSV will work closely with the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC).

DPC will retain a family violence branch responsible for monitoring and coordinating the delivery of all 227 Royal Commission recommendations, and other whole of government aspects of family violence reform.