The CEOs of eight organisations supporting Canberra women today launched a joint election platform outlining urgent priorities to be addressed by the next ACT Government.

In launching the election platform, Lauren Anthes CEO of Women’s Health Matters said:

“the women’s sector is united in calling on the future ACT Government to commit to a number of critical and overdue actions that will lift women’s overall wellbeing as well as viably resource a skilled, feminised sector that delivers essential community services and represents the needs of women.

This is the first time the women’s sector in Canberra has come together to advocate for a suite of shared priorities. While there has been important progress towards gender equality in Canberra, women continue to experience inadequate access to health services, workplace inequality and high rates of domestic and family violence”.

Robyn Martin, CEO of Beryl Women, Australia’s longest running specialist domestic violence service, said:

“The women’s sector provides a range of vital services, including support to women experiencing poverty and homelessness due to domestic and family violence. But without adequate funding, our services simply cannot meet the demand in the community. This election is an opportunity for candidates to understand the pressures facing women and the women’s sector in Canberra and to address them in government.”

Kiki Korpinen, acting CEO of Canberra Rape Crisis Centre, said:

“This election is an opportunity for government to better support and respond to the needs of ACT residents seeking support in relation to
complex trauma as a result of sexual violence. CRCC acknowledges this important partnership and welcomes the opportunity to continue to work together with the government for the best possible outcomes for victim/survivors.”

The election platform includes the following calls:

1. Prioritise ending domestic, family and sexual violence

●Increase funding for women’s specialist services to keep pace with growing demand and additional case management needs. An undersupply in social and affordable housing and underinvestment in crisis support continues to impact on safety outcomes and must be rectified.
●Develop a comprehensive, intersectional, evidence-based strategy to end domestic, family and sexual violence in the ACT.
●Increase funding to crisis services to recognise children as individual users and to meet their additional case management needs.

2. Recognise and resource specialist approaches to end sexual violence

●Resource subject matter experts to develop a complex trauma model for responding to victim/survivors of sexual violence.
●Resource the expansion of sexual violence prevention and early intervention practices including training, awareness raising and driving social reform around recent and historical sexual violence.
●Commit to resourcing frontline crisis services providing crucial support to victim/survivors of sexual violence who are women, LGBTQIA+ or victim/survivors with disability.

3.Promote women’s health and wellbeing

●Increase funding for no cost early medication abortion to meet shortfall, including for management.
●Commit to an inquiry into forced sterilisation in the ACT.
●Commit to fund the ACT’s first residential perinatal mental health facility.

4.Value women’s work

●Adequately resource emergency placements for children aged 0-5 in early education so as to recognise the true-value of providing these services.
●Fund increases that reflect the projected increase in demand through a population-based model.
●Provide an incentive program for businesses to employ women who have experienced complex trauma or have recently exited prison.

5.Resource women’s policy

●Increase internal resourcing to the Office for Women to coordinate and drive gender equitable policy for women across government.
●Fund the development and implementation of the next ACT Women’s Plan.
To read the sector’s election platform, visit https://www.womenshealthmatters.org.au/news/what-womens-services-need-2024/

Media Contact:

media@womenshealthmatters.org.au

Women’s Health Matters is the voice for women’s health and wellbeing in the ACT. We work to improve the health and wellbeing of all women in the ACT and surrounding region. We do this by improving women’s access to health information. We also do research to improve knowledge and understanding about the causes of health and illness for women in the ACT.

Beryl Women provides professional accountable, trauma-informed specialist domestic violence service, which is based in principles of feminism, social justice and reconciliation, and recognises and fosters cultural diversity. Beryl has an ongoing commitment to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, and women and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Beryl works with women to ensure that they are empowered to make decisions about their lives and to support them in acting on those decisions.

Canberra Rape Crisis Centre (CRCC) is a feminist organisation aiming to eliminate sexual violence within our community. CRCC provides comprehensive support including crisis phone lines, counselling and advocacy services to people impacted by sexual violence. CRCC also provides specialised services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities as well as education and training programs.