| Aboriginal | While acknowledging the diversity of Aboriginal people in Australia, in this document the term ‘Aboriginal’ has been used to refer to all people of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent. |
| Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) | As defined by the national closing the gap agreement, ‘an Incorporated, not-for-profit organisation that is controlled and operated by Aboriginal people, is governed by a majority Aboriginal governing body and delivers services that builds the strength and empowerment of Aboriginal communities and people’. The types of services that ACCOs deliver includes, for example, childcare, health, legal and community services. |
| Aboriginal Justice Agreement | A partnership developed in 2000 between Aboriginal communities and the Victorian Government, with the intention of improving Aboriginal justice outcomes, family and community safety, and to reduce over-representation in the Victorian criminal justice system. |
| Aboriginal Justice Forum | A forum made up of Aboriginal community leaders and government representatives established to oversee the development, implementation and direction of the Victorian Aboriginal Justice Agreement. |
| Community Initiatives Fund | A fund established to support projects that address the priorities identified by the 11 Dhelk Dja Regional Action Groups. |
| Dhelk Dja Koori Caucus | Made up of chairpersons of the 11 regional Aboriginal Dhelk Dja community action groups and key representatives of Aboriginal services, Caucus members provide statewide Aboriginal representation on the Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum. |
| Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum | A forum made up of Aboriginal community organisations and government representatives. It was established to oversee implementation of the Dhelk Dja: Safe Our Way – Strong Culture, Strong Peoples, Strong Families partnership agreement and related action plans. |
| Dhelk Dja Regional Action Groups | Place-based, Aboriginal community-led groups that drive local action to prevent and address family violence through a partnership approach. Located in 11 areas across Victoria. |
| Drivers of violence against women | The social conditions that lead to violence, which often reflect underlying inequalities in social or economic power among different groups of people.** |
| Early intervention | Aims to change the trajectory for individuals at higher-than-average risk of perpetrating or experiencing violence. Also known as secondary prevention. |
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Family violence |
Any violent, threatening, coercive or controlling behaviour that occurs in current or past familial relationships, including by intimate partners, family members and/or non-family carers. The Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Task Force (2003) defined family violence as: ‘an issue focused around a wide range of physical, emotional, sexual, social, spiritual, cultural, psychological and economic abuses that occur within families, intimate relationships, extended families, kinship networks and communities. It extends to one-on-one fighting, abuse of Indigenous community workers as well as self-harm, injury and suicide.’ |
| Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) Framework | A framework to support the identification, assessment and management of family violence risk. A range of organisations are required by law, under the Family Violence Protection Act 2008, to align their practices and policies with MARAM, which replaced the former common risk assessment framework or ‘CRAF’. The MARAM Framework is supported by operational practice guidance and risk identification, screening and assessment tools. |
| Lateral violence | An inter-generational pattern of violence where members of a marginalised or oppressed group turn their anger inwards, striking out against people from their own community rather than towards the original oppressors. This cycle of abuse can come from causes such as colonialism, ongoing racism and discrimination, or intergenerational trauma. |
| LGBTIQ+ | An inclusive initialism that refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender / gender diverse, intersex and queer people. |
| Mainstream | Refers to services and facilities that are available to the general population as opposed to those designed for specific cohorts or groups. |
| MARAM | See Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) Framework. |
| Primary prevention | Whole-of-population initiatives that address the primary (‘first’ or ‘underlying’) drivers of violence against women^ and other forms of family violence. |
| Respectful Relationships | A primary prevention education initiative that supports government, Catholic and independent schools and early childhood settings to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. The Victorian Curriculum provides the basis for teaching and learning about respectful relationships and identifies the knowledge, skills and understanding for students to be able to engage in respectful relationships. |
| Royal Commission into Family Violence | Established in 2015, the Royal Commission was tasked with finding ways to prevent family violence, improve support for victim survivors and hold perpetrators to account. The Royal Commission provided its report, which included 227 recommendations, to the Victorian Government on 29 March 2016. |
| Victim survivor | A person who has experienced domestic, family or sexual violence. |
| Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council | Formed in July 2016, the council was established to include people with lived experience of family violence in the service design of family violence reform. |
** Definition from Department of Premier and Cabinet (2017): Free From Violence: Victoria’s Strategy to Prevent Family Violence and all Forms of Violence Against Women.
^ Definition from Our Watch (2021): Change the Story. A Shared Framework for the Primary Prevention of Violence Against Women in Australia (second edition).
Updated