Victoria government logo
fvrim.vic.gov.au

What did the Royal Commission say and what has changed since?

Following the Royal Commission, the Victorian Government has formalised the role of universal services through major reforms such as MARAM and the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme

The Royal Commission into Family ViolenceExternal Link found that universal services often lack the knowledge and expertise to identify and respond when people are experiencing family violence. Victims who are seeking help will often have regular and extended contact with universal services, so these workforces are crucial in the response to family violence. Lack of knowledge within universal systems [services] was identified as one of 11 system limitationsExternal Link :

Key personnel in universal systems, such as health services and schools, are not adequately equipped to recognise that family violence may be occurring and often do not know what to do when it is identified.

Consistent with this, the Royal Commission made a series of recommendations that aimed to increase the capacity of universal services to be able to identify and respond to family violence.1 These recommendations included:

  • whole-of-workforce training for priority sectors – including GPs and hospital workers – that takes into account and aligns with their roles and standards of practice
  • secondary consultation services to be provided to universal or non–family violence services by advanced family violence practitioner positions at Support and Safety Hubs (now known as The Orange Door network), and in the interim for specialist family violence services to be provided with additional resources so they can provide more secondary consultations to universal services
  • public hospitals to be resourced to implement a whole-of-hospital model for responding to family violence, drawing on evaluated approaches in Victoria and elsewhere
  • routine screening for family violence in all public antenatal settings
  • engagement with specialists to ensure appropriate responses to diverse cohorts.

Since then, government’s approach to implementing these recommendations has been laid out through several government plans, commitments and legislation. For example:

The MARAM FrameworkExternal Link was released in 2018. Principle 2 of the framework is that ‘professionals should work collaboratively to provide coordinated and effective risk assessment and management responses, including early intervention when family violence first occurs to avoid escalation into crisis and additional harm’. It also emphasises that ‘universal services have important roles across the spectrum of family violence early intervention, risk assessment and management’. Organisations in scope for this report that have been prescribed to use MARAM and information sharing are listed in Table 1.

Table 1: Health and education organisations referenced in this report that are prescribed under MARAM and information sharing legislation

Phase 1
  • Maternal and Child Health
Phase 2
  • Government and non-government schools
  • Kindergartens
  • Long day care
  • Community health
  • Publicly funded metropolitan, regional and rural health services
  • Public health services
  • Denominational hospitals
  • Public hospitals
  • Publicly funded early parenting centres
  • General practitioners2 (information sharing only)
  • General practice nurses (information sharing only)

Note: For a full list of prescribed organisations, refer to the Victorian Government’s websiteExternal Link .

Departments are implementing MARAM together with the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme and Child Information Sharing Scheme as a suite of interrelated reforms that work to reduce family violence and promote child wellbeing and safety. Substantial funding has been directed to these reforms, including an allocation of $97 million over four years through the 2020–21 State Budget for the continued implementation of the reforms across all prescribed workforces. The funding is designed to ‘meet the continued demand for training, change management support and information sharing from government as part of implementing the Family Violence and Child Information Sharing Schemes and MARAM, including to universal health and education workforces recently brought into these reforms under Phase 2External Link ’. A depiction of how this funding has been allocated is provided at Figure 2.

Additionally, The Orange Door network, which will be established in all 17 Department of Families, Fairness and Housing regions in Victoria by the end of 2022, is designed to be a clear point of contact for referrals and secondary consultations.

Figure 2: Flow of $97 million investment from the 2021-22 State Budget

Source: Family Safety Victoria, Department of Education and Training, Department of Health
Figure 2: Flow of $97 million investment from the 2021-22 State Budget

2021-22 State Budget Investment: $97 million over four years towards continued implementation of the MARAM, FVISS and CISS reforms

  • $28.2m for the Department of Education and Training
    • 62% for central coordination and whole-of-government stewardship of the Child Information Sharing Scheme
    • 20% for central staff
    • 16% for training development and delivery (including backfill)
    • 2% for data collection and evaluation
  • $22.1m for the Department of Health
    • 65% to hospitals/health services for Strengthening Hospital Responses to Family Violence initiative
    • 20% for central staff
    • 8% for training
    • 6% for work with partners to support GPs
    • Above percentages based on 2021/22 allocations only
  • $21.3m for Family Safety Victoria
    • 51% for training, resources and tools
    • 49% for central coordination
  • Remaining funds for the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, courts and Victoria Police
Figure 2: Flow of $97 million investment from the 2021-22 State Budget

Endnotes

  1. We identified 11 main recommendations that directly relate to this topic: 3, 37, 95, 96, 100, 102, 103, 139, 207, 211, 212
  2. We understand that GPs were unable to be prescribed under MARAM because extensive sector consultation suggested they would need to be prescribed as individuals, and individuals cannot be prescribed under MARAM.

Reviewed 10 May 2022

Was this page helpful?