A new Working Group is to be set up to coordinate the activities of the community, the service sector, unions and relevant stakeholders as they respond to sexual assaults in the ACT.
Minister for Women, Yvette Berry said the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Working Group would be inclusive and intersectional about experiences of sexual violence across the community.
“The treatment of women in workplaces and across the country is unacceptable,” Ms Berry said.
“We are demanding a future in which women are treated with dignity and respect,” she said.
“It is a momentous time and it is time to put survivors at the centre of how we respond to sexual assault and violence.”
Ms Berry said the Working Group would also include the experiences of people with a disability; children and young people; the LGBTIQ+ community; the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community; as well as communities that were culturally and linguistically diverse.
“To make long-lasting change to cultures of behaviour we need to bring everyone along on the journey for change,” she said.
“We know that there are many different experiences and that our response must provide more than just one pathway.”
Ms Berry said the work also needed to have a “gendered lens” as women made up 86.6 per cent of victims of sexual assault in the ACT.
She encouraged women to complete the Women’s Health Matters’ survey on women’s experiences of seeking help for sexual assault in the Territory.
“I encourage women in the community to complete the survey to help us better understand women’s experiences and their views about services and support,” she said.
Ms Berry said the first meeting of the Working Group would be held in the coming weeks.
The Women’s Health Matters’ survey can be accessed at this PS News link.
