Archive for year: 2025

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Marching forward: from promises to progress, women’s safety cannot exclude any temporary migrant

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To mark International Women’s Day, the National Advocacy Group on Women on Temporary Visas Experiencing Violence (the ‘National Advocacy Group’) calls for reform to the migration system to advance Australia’s commitment to ending gendered violence in a generation.

The migration system currently provides a safety net for some temporary migrants who experience domestic and family violence, via the family violence provisions. This is not enough.

The family violence provisions remain inaccessible to thousands of women who are experiencing abuse, despite recent amendments to the provisions.

Many of the 60+ members of the National Advocacy Group work directly with women experiencing domestic and family violence who are not eligible to access permanent residency via the family violence provisions. Across Australia on a daily basis these organisations are working with women who cannot access emergency or long term accommodation, welfare, health and other critical services due to their status as temporary migrants. Many of these women are at risk of poverty and homelessness, and are faced with no other option than to stay with, or return to, a violent perpetrator.

We call on the Federal Government to urgently introduce a visa category that would be accessible to all temporary migrants experiencing domestic and family violence in Australia. Such a step is necessary to provide victim-survivors with the material and legal support to keep them safe.

The Federal Government has demonstrated that it is capable of migration reform that puts temporary migrants first with the 2024 introduction of the workplace justice visa.

This is the critical next step in the commitment to achieving women’s safety nationally. Other reforms are also critical: we provide a detailed account of the full suite of measures for reform for state, territory and federal government in the Blueprint for Reform.

The National Advocacy Group includes the following organisations and peak bodies:
AustralAsian Centre for Human Rights and Health
Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights
Australian Women Against Violence Alliance (AWAVA)
Domestic Violence NSW
Domestic Violence Service Management
Economic Justice Australia
Immigration Advice and Rights Centre (IARC)
inTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence
Jesuit Refugee Service Australia
Muslim Women Australia
Northern Community Legal Centre
NTCOSS
Refugee Legal
Safe and Equal
Safe Steps
Settlement Service International
Tasmanian Refugee Legal Service
University of Melbourne: Borders, Migration and Gender Violence Research Hub
WESNET (Women’s Services Network)
Women’s Health Matters (ACT)
Women’s Legal Services Australia
Women’s And Girl’s Emergency Centre
South-East Monash Legal Service Inc.

See more details about the full National Advocacy Group here.

Major New Survey of Women’s Health in the ACT

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The second Survey of Women’s Health in the ACT is officially open, offering all women and femme-identifying people aged 18 or older in the ACT and surrounding region the opportunity to share their health experiences.

The survey comes as Women’s Health Matters welcomes the Australian Government’s announcements aiming to make reproductive and sexual health care more accessible. These welcome changes reducing the cost of key treatments are the result of ongoing evidence-informed advocacy from national and state and territory women’s organisations. The Survey of Women’s Health in the ACT builds on this evidence locally to help us further understand the gaps and unmet need so that we can advocate to government for solutions.

This confidential survey takes a snapshot of women’s health and wellbeing in our community, providing critical insights that will help shape future health services and policies. The Survey of Women’s Health in the ACT is a key initiative supported by Snow Foundation and serves as a vital tool for understanding the current state of women’s health locally.

The first survey, conducted in 2022-23, received an overwhelming response from over 1600 participants. These insights have already helped inform the development of new services, guided government and funding bodies in identifying healthcare priorities, and empowered Women’s Health Matters to advocate for improved systems to support women’s health.

The survey is open to all women and femme-identifying people, as well as anyone who aligns themselves with these groups, who live in the ACT or surrounding areas and are aged 18 years or over. It is an opportunity for participants to have their voices heard and to contribute to ongoing efforts to enhance women’s health and wellbeing in our region.

The results from this survey will be instrumental in guiding future initiatives, policy decisions, and funding priorities to better meet the healthcare needs of women and femme-identifying people in the ACT.

Take part today and help us create a healthier future for all women in the ACT!

To complete the survey, visit: https://ow.ly/uuiw50UiGyo 
For more information: https://www.womenshealthmatters.org.au/womens-healthwellbeing/surveyofwomenshealth/

Media Contact
For media inquiries, please contact:
media@womenshealthmatters.org.au

Women’s Health Matters is the voice for women’s health and wellbeing in the ACT. We work to improve the health and wellbeing of all women in the ACT and surrounding region. We do this by improving women’s access to health information. We also do research to improve knowledge and understanding about the causes of health and illness for women in the ACT.

Snow Foundation, established by Terry Snow AM in Canberra in 1991 and led by his daughter Georgina Byron AM as CEO since 2006, is focused on fostering positive social change. It supports a range of causes, from grassroots entrepreneurial projects to established organisations and exceptional leaders working for social change. The Foundation is committed to catalysing community infrastructure and has a deep focus on youth-at-risk, domestic and family violence, being a respectful and useful ally to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and giving to women and girls through a gender lens – http://www.snowfoundation.org.au

Supported by ACT Health Directorate

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