Introduction

Family Safety Victoria was established in July 2017 to lead Victoria towards a future where people are safe, thriving and live free from violence, and children grow up in environments built on gender equality and respectful relationships and in families that promote their health, development and wellbeing.

An administrative office of the Victorian Government Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (‘the department’), we are the first government agency dedicated to ending family violence, delivering key initiatives to help protect, support and identify risk for those impacted by family violence and to hold perpetrators to account.

We are committed to delivering key reforms arising from the 2015-16 Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence and we are working in partnership across government and the service sector to reform services and establish practices that make it easier for people to get the help they need, when and where they need it, to ensure they are safe and can recover and thrive.

Family Safety Victoria’s Strategic Plan 2021-24 outlines our key priorities over the next three years, to ensure we continue to deliver on the Victorian Government’s commitment to working towards a Victorian community where:

• family violence and gender inequality are not tolerated
• victim survivors, children and families are safe and supported to recover and thrive
• perpetrators are held to account, connected and take responsibility for stopping their violence
• preventing and responding to family violence is systemic and enduring.

Delivery of the Victorian Government’s family violence reform commitments is a long-term, sustained program of work that will require many years of dedicated effort to implement and embed. The success of our efforts will depend on the strength of the workforces that deliver them, including our own workforce at Family Safety Victoria.

Building from Strength: 10-year Industry Plan for Family Violence Prevention and Response outlines the Victorian Government's long-term vision and plan for a workforce that can prevent and effectively respond to family violence.

The plan sets out how the Victorian Government will work with stakeholders to create a flexible and dynamic workforce, building on four themes:

1. A system that works together
2. Building prevention and response capability across the system
3. Strengthening the specialist family violence and primary prevention workforces
4. Workforce health and wellbeing

Strengthening the workforces to prevent and respond to family violence is critical. We need to build a robust, connected system to ensure that our own internal workforce is strong and supported.

The People and Culture Strategy sets the vision and strategic direction for Family Safety Victoria to build a high-performing workforce who are engaged, equipped and supported to work in a challenging and complex environment and empowered to make a difference.

Everything Family Safety Victoria does starts from the perspective of the person and our work is built on the principles of intersectionality, Aboriginal self-determination and lived experience. To ensure an alignment with these principles, the strategic direction and pillars that underpin this strategy were developed by employees from across Family Safety Victoria using a human-centred design process. As a result, the People and Culture Strategy is grounded deeply in the experiences of our workforce and reflects the meaning and purpose of our people.

Family Safety Victoria’s operational and workforce management systems and our People and Culture Strategy, align with the strategic and corporate directions of the Department of Families Fairness and Housing, ensuring that a systematic and consistent approach is taken to improving our employees’ experiences. It is also informed by the annual results of the People Matter survey. Notwithstanding this, the People and Culture Strategy is informed by and tailored to the specific needs and aspirations of the Family Safety Victoria workforce.