Governance arrangements

Our approach for governing the domestic and family violence (DFV) reforms acknowledges that DFV is everyone’s concern.

The Queensland Government has established governance arrangements to provide independent oversight of the DFV reform agenda.

The governance model is focused on forging strong relationships with key community, religious, sporting and business leaders who are invested in the future, and is designed to ensure reform activities occur when they are required and remain aligned with desired outcomes.

The model comprises the following entities.

Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council

The Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council (the Council) was announced on 22 November 2019 and provides independent oversight of the next phase of the Queensland Government DFV reform agenda.

Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Executive Group

The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Executive Group (DFSVEG) was established to strategically lead the whole-of-government implementation of domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV) reform activities.

The DFSVEG fosters strong interagency collaboration to set strategic priorities, evaluate performance, and manage any critical issues impacting the successful implementation of:

• the Domestic and family violence prevention strategy 2016–2026 (the strategy), including the Fourth action plan of the strategy
• the Prevent. Support. Believe. Queensland's framework to address sexual violence and associated action plans
• any other related and significant policy reforms agreed to be overseen by the DFSVEG, including reforms arising from the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce (the Taskforce).

Women's Safety and Criminal Justice Directors-General Steering Committee

The Women's Safety and Criminal Justice Directors-General Steering Committee (the Steering Committee) is responsible for overseeing the systemic reforms arising from the Taskforce reports Hear her voice - Report One - Addressing coercive control and domestic and family violence in Queensland and Hear her voice - Report Two - Women and girls' experiences across the criminal justice system.

This governing and leadership body is responsible for ensuring the Queensland Government response to the Taskforce recommendations is coordinated and delivered in a meaningful way, so victim-survivors and perpetrators of DFSV experience better outcomes.

A range of Queensland Government departments are represented in the Steering Committee, including:

• Department of Justice
• Queensland Police Service
• Queensland Corrective Services
• Department of Women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and Multiculturalism
• Queensland Health
• Queensland Education
• Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety
• Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy
• Queensland Treasury
• Department of the Premier and Cabinet.

In addition to monitoring DFV reforms, the Steering Committee also oversees key reforms to the criminal justice system, including implementation of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and the Justice Policy Partnership, which aims to address rates of over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Group

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Group (the Prevention Group) has been established to have oversight of Queensland’s framework for action—Reshaping our approach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander domestic and family violence (the framework).

The establishment of the Prevention Group recognises Queensland’s commitment that DFV reform activities must be co-designed and undertaken in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities to effectively and appropriately address the intersection of the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the complexity of DFV.

The Prevention Group’s purpose is to:

• provide oversight and support to the implementation of the framework
• oversee and track progress on addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander DFV as part of the governance framework for the DFV reform program undertaken by the Queensland Government.