The National Alliance for DFV Specialist Services (NADFVSS) has released a statement in response to the DFV Commissioner’s 3rd Annual Report to Parliament.

September 2026

The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner, Micaela Cronin has released the third annual report on the progress of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children. It comes at a crucial time with the ongoing consultation and development of the Second Action Plan for the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032.

The report reflects on the importance of having a collective vision for what a mature national response to domestic, family and sexual violence looks like. From working to improve government systems to ensure that they do no further harm, to strengthening monitoring and accountability to drive continuous systems improvement and integration, to investing earlier to prevent risks and emerging patterns from escalating, we know that these and other recommendations contained in the report will be foundational in the work of the Second Action Plan.

A mature national system must also recognise that Aboriginal women, children and families require Aboriginal-led, culturally safe pathways, with Aboriginal community-controlled specialist services embedded across prevention, early intervention, response, healing and recovery. In particular, we echo calls from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and services that early intervention and prevention programs must be delivered and led by specialist ACCO services, and that increased investment is needed to make this possible and sustainable.

As the National Alliance of Domestic and Family Violence Specialist Services, we represent over 400 specialist domestic and family violence service providers across the country. We know that fragmented, ill-defined and underfunded systems create further barriers to safety and recovery for survivors. We echo the Commission’s call for strong national leadership to intentionally design an integrated and coordinated national system. To do this, we must articulate distinct roles, accountabilities and relationships across the complementary but distinct systems that support survivors. We cannot do this without recognising and understanding the critical and lifesaving work of the specialist domestic and family violence service sector. This enables systems and referral pathway mapping, dedicated workforce support and development and targeted and transparent data collection.

We welcome the Commission’s dedicated focus and call for action to address the harms occurring for survivors of violence in the context of the Family Law and justice systems across Australia. While there have been significant justice reforms to improve safety and responsiveness for survivors, we know that these systems continue to be the site of systems abuse, compounded trauma and further violence and coercive control for survivors. We also support the Commission’s recognition of children as victim-survivors in their own right, with distinct safety, recovery and service needs at all times, including during legal proceedings.

This Alliance is also pleased to see the recognition and recommendation that sexual violence be a distinct and resourced priority in the Second Action Plan. It is essential that we collectively work to address the unacceptable rates of sexual violence in Australia, and to understand the distinct drivers of sexual violence in all its forms.

As we work towards finalising the Second Action Plan, we urge federal, state and territory governments to not only deeply engage with the recommendations contained in the Commission’s latest report and also previous reports, but also continue the work in partnership with DFSV specialist services, survivors and advocates.

National Alliance of Domestic and Family Violence Specialist Services

September 2026

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The National Alliance of Domestic and Family Violence Specialist Services (the DFV Alliance) represents the interests of specialist domestic and family violence (DFV) services across all jurisdictions in Australia. The DFV Alliance includes funded and non-funded formal peak entities, representative networks, and service providers in an informal representative function.

For more information, visit https://wesnet.org.au/NADFVSS

The statement is available to download here:

NADFVSS joint statement DFV Commissioner’s 3rd Annual Report