On Wednesday, August 26, Australia’s National Cabinet met with ending gender-based violence high on the agenda, following a fortnight of devastating headlines and renewed calls for governments to act.
The meeting comes amid continued concern over rates of domestic, family and sexual violence across Australia, with advocates and politicians pushing for a response that goes beyond commitments and delivers meaningful change.
So, what actually came out of the meeting?
A new national approach to assessing domestic violence risk
The most significant announcement was a National Family and Domestic Violence Risk Assessment Framework, designed to create a more consistent way of identifying people at risk of violence.
The idea is that whether someone seeks help from the police, a GP or a hospital in any state, warning signs should be recognised and acted upon in the same way. States and territories have two years to align with the framework.
What else was agreed?
National Cabinet asked ministerial councils to progress a number of other priorities, including:
- strengthening respectful relationships education in schools
- finalising national standards for men’s behaviour change programs
- improving access to emergency accommodation
- developing standards for supporting children who have experienced or been exposed to violence
- progressing recommendations from the Senate inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children
The government also pointed to funding and measures already underway, including the $3.9 billion National Access to Justice Partnership, more than $700 million in matched funding for domestic, family and sexual violence services, and $308 million for emergency and transitional housing.
National Cabinet also agreed on the priorities for the Second Action Plan under the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022–2032, which is currently being developed. The priorities include helping victim-survivors leave violence safely, intervening earlier, supporting children and young people, responding to rising sexual violence, tackling online harms and holding perpetrators to account.
Why are some advocates unhappy?
While the Government described the meeting as an acceleration of efforts to prevent violence, critics have questioned how much of what was announced represents immediate or new action.
Independent MP Zali Steggall called the outcome “weak and unacceptable”, arguing that the measures were piecemeal and would not make an immediate material difference to women and children experiencing violence.
Steggall has also called for a national education campaign, particularly as concerns grow around the influence of violent and degrading pornography on young people. “Women and children need real action to keep them safe. I will keep pushing for it,” she said.
Advocate Tarang Chawla similarly cautioned against confusing existing investments and future processes with urgent action. He argued that governments already know many of the factors driving gendered violence and where systems are failing, and said the focus now needs to be on implementing solutions at the scale and speed the crisis demands.
“We should not confuse a list of existing investments and future processes with urgent action taken today,” Chawla wrote on Instagram. He pointed to the fact that much of the funding cited by the Government had been previously announced, while the national risk-assessment framework was itself first announced in 2024, and will not be implemented until at least 2028.
He has also called for a coordinated national approach to challenging the environments that shape attitudes towards women — including schools, sporting clubs, workplaces and online spaces. As he put it, that work needs to reach “the online spaces shaping boys’ ideas about women, power, and sex.”
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