The PRET Partnership has made a submission to the Australian Government’s consultation on the Second Action Plan under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032.
Background
Promoting Respect and Equity Together (PRET) is a partnership of nearly 40 organisations working to prevent gender-based violence across Melbourne’s Southern Metropolitan Region — ten local government areas and around 1.56 million people, spanning some of Victoria’s most and least advantaged communities. Coordinated by Women’s Health in the South East (WHISE) as backbone organisation, the partnership brings together councils, health services, multicultural and ethno-specific organisations, Aboriginal Community Controlled and Aboriginal-led organisations, legal and family services, faith-based organisations, disability services, universities and government departments. It is now delivering its third regional strategy, built on a decade of shared prevention practice.
Purpose of this submission
This submission draws on that decade of regional, place-based practice to respond to the consultation on Priority Area 2 (Primary Prevention and Early Intervention). Its central argument is simple: Australia does not need to reinvent primary prevention — it needs to recognise, resource and connect the approaches already demonstrating impact. Prevention is generational work, and it cannot succeed when funded through short cycles that end just as relationships, trust and capability begin to take hold. We offer our partnership model, our tools and our honest account of what this work needs as a practical example of what the Second Action Plan’s national ambitions can look like on the ground.
Read the full submission below.