Working with young people to change attitudes and prevent violence against women

Community organisations, not-for-profit organisations and local government bodies are being encouraged to apply for Federal Government funding to deliver education projects to young Australians, aimed at preventing violence against women.

The Minister for the Status of Women, Kate Ellis was joined by member for Lindsay David Bradbury today to call for applications for total funding of up to $3.6 million which is available under the Respectful Relationship Round Three.

School students living in Lindsay have benefited from a $391,000 educational program delivered by the Baptist Community Services, which was funded under earlier rounds of the Respectful Relationships.

“In this country, nearly one in three women has experienced physical violence and almost one in five women has been the victim of sexual assault,” Ms Ellis said.

“These statistics are heartbreaking and they are unacceptable.”

“The Australian Government has a zero-tolerance for all forms of violence and today we are calling on organisations across the country to join us in our fight to reject and prevent violence against women.”

“An essential part of reaching this goal and a key focus of our historic $86 million National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children is investing to prevent violence happening in the first place.”

“Stopping violence before it occurs means we have to ensure our young people have healthy attitudes towards how they will behave in their relationships.”

The Respectful Relationships initiative seeks to prevent violence against women through education of young Australians.

Funding is available for projects to educate these young people, to help them understand ethical behaviour and develop protective behaviours.  For this round of Respectful Relationships, organisations will be able to apply for funding to support programs aimed at children as young as 8 in recognition of the fact that attitudes about violence can be formed at an early age.

The Australian Government is encouraging community organisations, not-for-profit organisations and local government to apply for a total of up to $400,000 for each project. “We have a lot of great community organisations in our local community who are working with our youth to promote the importance of respecting each other and themselves,” said Federal Member for Lindsay, David Bradbury.

“Programs such as Respectful Relationship are making a real difference for the young people in my community.

“Since 2008 Respectful Relationships education has been delivered to almost 24,000 young people across Australia, including many in Lindsay.”

“I encourage community organisations in the local area to apply for funding and take action to prevent the problem of violence before it occurs,” Mr Bradbury said.

The National plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children is the first of its kind to focus so strongly on prevention, including building respectful relationships amongst young people and working to increase gender equality to stop violence from occurring in the first place.

Applications close 3pm AEDST 9 December 2011 and details are at www.fahcsia.gov.au For further information please email RR3@fahcsia.gov.au