The Liberal Government is committed to tackling the scourge of domestic and family violence which is widespread in Australia.
We have united with the Commonwealth and other States and Territories to jointly fund the new Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS).
Today ANROWS officially launched the 2014-2016 Research Program. The program will build our knowledge on domestic, family and sexual violence and find ways to reduce its prevalence and impact on the Australian community.
Evidence produced from each project will address a key gap in current research on violence against women and their children. These gaps are identified in the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010-2022.
ANROW'S research program comprises 20 projects with a total value of $3.5 million. Projects vary in length and will be delivered at various points over the next two years.
We know that around one in three women have experienced physical violence, one in four experience emotional abuse by a partner, and almost one in five have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. Worse still, across the nation one woman a week dies at the hands of a partner or ex-partner.
The Liberal Government is also working with the Commonwealth Government to develop the Second Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, and implementing strategies under Taking Action: Tasmania's Primary Prevention Strategy to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children.
The Liberal Government is strongly committed to making Tasmania a safer place and ensuring women and children are protected from family violence and sexual assault and our significant contribution to ANROWS will go towards achieving this end.