The Albanese Government last Friday announced the launch of its consultation on the Second Action Plan under the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032 (the National Plan).
The First Action Plan was developed by the Morrison Government and commenced under the Albanese Government in 2022. It outlined the key outcomes to be achieved during the first five years of the decade-long National Plan. However, four years into the Plan, the crisis has only continued to spiral.
The Second Action Plan is intended to carry Australia through to the end of the National Plan, with the goal of reducing domestic violence victims to zero by 2032. But as violence continue to rise, Australians are rightly questioning what progress is being made.
Despite declaring domestic violence a national crisis in 2024, the Government has largely responded with funding announcements and hollow platitudes while statistics worsen, and Australian families become less safe.
Last week, the Prime Minister rejected calls for a Royal Commission, insisting that his government already knows what to do. Australians are entitled to ask why meaningful action has not then followed.
Labor’s own Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner recently acknowledged their First Action Plan lacked clear priorities, measurable outcomes and effective accountability measures.
There is slim hope that the Second Action Plan will be any different without serious accountability and willpower from a Government which is sitting on its hands as the number of lives lost at the hands of violence continues to climb.
In Senate Estimates yesterday, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and Prevention of Family Violence, Senator Matt O’Sullivan questioned the Attorney-General’s Department about progress under the National Strategy to End and Prevent Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030 (the National Strategy).
Consultation for the Second Action Plan under the National Strategy was announced in tandem with that of its overarching framework, the National Plan.
During the hearing, department officials confirmed that an information referral service committed to in 2022 had only reached the Request for Tender stage in 2025, and the service is still not operational.
After four years, this Labor Government has still failed to deliver a basic website to refer victims of child sexual abuse to the appropriate support services.
That failure raises serious concerns about the government’s ability to deliver meaningful reform through the Second Action Plan.
Vulnerable children and families need immediate action, not another merry-go-round of consultations or recycled budget commitments.
The Government’s own Commissioner has said what the sector has long known. The current system is failing. The truth is, this Government would rather block its ears and congratulate itself, than face the hard work of real change.