Workforce development priority area

Strengthening the specialist family violence and primary prevention workforces

Strengthening the capacity and capability of the people who work to prevent and respond to family violence is critical to reform success.

The specialist family violence and prevention workforce is a distinct workforce with a specific focus and expertise.

We are also building the family violence capabilities of broader workforces that intersect with family violence. These include community services, health, police, courts, schools and early years services.

The focus for the Rolling Action Plan is to continue to strengthen our specialist prevention and response workforces.

We are achieving this by:

  • recruiting and retaining people with skills from diverse backgrounds
  • working to create clear career pathways that develop expertise and knowledge
  • providing training and skills development
  • creating a workplace where people feel valued and supported.

What has happened

Since 2018 under amendments to the Family Violence Protection Act 2008, organisations across the many parts of the social service system are prescribed by associated regulation to align their policies, procedures, practice guidance and tools with the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework (MARAM) Framework.

As at April 2021, there were more than 6,700 organisations and more than 370,000 professionals prescribed under MARAM, and more than 8,300 organisations consisting of 408,000 professionals prescribed under the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme.

Family Violence Protection Act 2008

What is next

Upskilling and training both the sector and across other key industries and workforces remains a focus moving into 2022:

  • The Best Practice Education Model is being piloted internally by Safe and Equal (previously Domestic Violence Victoria and Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria). It is also being piloted with TAFEs and TAFE trainers through the VET Development Centre.
  • Accredited training courses are being finalised. These include Course in Contributing to the Prevention of Family Violence and Violence Against Women and Course in Intermediate Risk Assessment and Management of Family Violence Risk. Training and assessment resources will support the delivery of these courses through the VET sector.
  • Delivery of the Fast Track Professional Development Program will continue.
  • The Mandatory Minimum Qualifications policy was introduced on 1 July 2020 for the specialist family violence response workforce. This will be implemented over a five-year transition period. The Mandatory Minimum Qualifications Transition Monitoring Advisory Group will monitor implementation collecting and analysing data and assessing policy gaps and challenges. The new requirements will support the increased visibility and professionalisation of the specialist family violence response workforce. This will ensure that the workforce is drawn from a range of disciplines, experience, and backgrounds.
  • Development of a Family Violence and Sexual Assault Traineeship model has begun. This will accelerate training pathways for the family violence and sexual assault support workforce across the state.
  • The Family Violence Workforce Project will support understanding the design of job roles in the family violence specialist sector. This will include developing roles to support current and future requirements of the system.
  • Ongoing work for the implementation of the Family Violence Workforce Health, Safety and Wellbeing Guide will be occurring.

What this means for outcomes

Updated