Ensure the Victorian Family Violence Index measures the extent of and response to family violence in different communities

Slot gameWith the establishment of Respect Victoria as a Statutory Authority in October 2018, the body of work formerly known as the Family Violence Index project (recommendation 143 of the Royal Commission into Family Violence), was transferred from the Office for Women to Respect Victoria and has now been revitalised as the Family Violence Data Platform. This new approach takes account of recommendations from the Australia’s National Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) and University of Melbourne report that variability in the quality of available data and the complexity of combining data across the different components of family violence precludes the development of a single reliable and robust indicator of family violence.

The redevelopment of this body of work in collaboration with the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) enables sets of data indicators to be brought together, housed and published alongside Victorian Family Violence Data Portal; and an online interactive tool for accessing family violence prevalence data. The first set of data indicators to be developed will focus on primary prevention and will provide a vital tool to allow Respect Victoria and its partners to track population-level progress towards the prevention of all forms of family violence and violence against women. This will also help identify gaps in data for different communities, and how we collectively need to respond to those limitations, to ensure that we can measure progress for all Victorians.

In May 2015 the Government ANROWS to scope and identify appropriate approaches that would lead to a Family Violence Index including what measures, statistics and data should be included. This initiative was progressed in collaboration with the University of Melbourne. The report found that developing a single composite indicator of family violence was not possible but instead recommended that Victoria progressively build a series of data indicators across the components of family violence including prevention and response, prevalence and impact and access and equity.

In late 2018 Respect Victoria agreed to lead the further development of this work and have commenced work on the first phase. Working in collaboration with the CSA, the first phase aims to establish a set of primary prevention data indicators that will be used to measure Victoria’s progress towards the prevention of family violence. Revitalised as the Family Violence Data Platform, the project will create an online interactive data dashboard to visually house indicators on the known drivers of family violence and violence against women. Development of a conceptual framework to guide the selection of data indicators from the established evidence base has commenced. A Project Advisory Group comprising leading stakeholder representatives across government, prevention agencies and academia have been engaged to provide expert input and guide the overall strategic direction of the Family Violence Data Platform.

Forecast implementation date: 31 March 2021.