Between May and July 2026, the Department of Social Services (DSS) consulted on the Second Action Plan under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032.
Health Justice Australia (HJA) participated in several consultation workshops and through a written submission, which recommends actions needed to strengthen collaboration, support integrated approaches and improve outcomes.
In our submission, we urge the government to:
- Invest long-term in health justice partnership (HJP), to support the expansion and sustainability of this cross-sector service intervention for individuals and families at risk of or experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence (FDSV).
- Recognise legal assistance as a core component of the comprehensive and integrated service response to FDSV, particularly in settings where victim-survivors commonly seek help, including health, community, family and early childhood services.
- Resource the national infrastructure required to build system-wide capability for cross-sector service integration, providing the mechanisms, relationships, processes and supports needed to connect and coordinate different parts of the service system.
Read the full submission to see how the evidence and practice-based insights from HJP informed HJA’s practical recommendations for strengthening integrated responses to FDSV.
During the consultation workshops, HJA shared insights on the current health justice landscape and emerging sector priorities, and discussed the capability, capacity and investment needed to support effective and sustainable collaborative responses.
Our contributions included:
- exploring what integrated approaches look like on the ground when services are working together
- emphasis on understanding the capability and capacity required to work effectively in partnership, and the importance of investing in these areas
- what positive outcomes actually look like for the individuals, families and communities we are working to support.
To read more about HJA’s CEO Lottie Turner’s reflection on those insights, visit our blog We keep asking systems to work together. But are we investing in what makes that possible?
