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

With 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. The project is now known as the Prevention of Family Violence Data Platform (PFVDP).

Respect Victoria has taken a lead role since late 2018. In 2019 a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between Respect Victoria and the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) to resource and support the development of the project. A Steering Committee of government and university sector representatives has been established to provide project oversight.The PFVDP will be housed and made publicly accessible alongside the Victorian Family Violence Data Portal on the CSA website.

The platform will provide a vital tool for Respect Victoria, government, researchers and all organisations working on family violence prevention to track population-level progress in reducing the prevalence of all forms of family violence and violence against women. This will include information on underlying drivers and risk factors and on prevention efforts. This will also help identify gaps in data for different communities to ensure that we can measure progress for all Victorians.

The intention of the Family Violence Index was to produce a composite indicator of family violence to monitor the scale and impact of family violence in Victoria, and the effectiveness of family violence prevention and response. The Victorian Government’s Office for Women commissioned Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) and the University of Melbourne to develop a conceptual model for this index. They concluded that a single index was not possible and recommended a series of indicators be developed against which to measure change over time.

With the establishment of Respect Victoria as a Statutory Authority in October 2018, this body of work was transferred from the Office for Women to Respect Victoria. In response to the recommendations made by ANROWS and the University of Melbourne, the Prevention of Family Violence Data Platform (PFVDP) was developed, drawing together a wide range of Victorian-level, primary prevention-focused data against a common framework to enable the tracking of Victoria’s progress toward the prevention of family violence and violence against women across a range of dimensions. This includes data on the prevalence of violence, community attitudes towards gender equality and violence against women, and other markers of gender inequality and discrimination at the interpersonal, community, organisational and structural levels.

Respect Victoria released the PFVDP in June 2021. Measures included in the PFVDP are aligned with the primary prevention outcomes and indicators articulated in the Free from Violence Outcomes Framework, which has been adopted in the Prevention domain of the Family Violence Outcomes Framework. To enable monitoring of population-level progress towards the primary prevention of family violence and violence against women in Victoria, the PFVDP features data instruments which collect data at regular intervals — from annual to every four or five years. In addition, a small number of one-off data sets have been included for topics or sub-population groups where trend data were not available. Wherever possible, Victorian data is presented. In cases where Victorian data is unavailable, national level data has been included where appropriate.

Currently, the PFVDP contains data sources collected between 2009 and 2020. This provides an ability to baseline Victoria’s status prior to significant investment in primary prevention endeavours (with the Free from Violence strategy beginning in 2018). The PFVDP will be updated regularly as more data becomes available. While every attempt has been made to include the most recent data, there may be a delay between when new data is released and when it can be published on the PFVDP.

Implemented.