{"id":271117,"date":"2025-10-02T05:45:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T05:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/271117\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T05:45:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T05:45:15","slug":"queensland-establishes-states-first-sexual-violence-peak-body-with-hopes-it-will-bring-victim-survivors-voices-to-hallways-of-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/271117\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland establishes state’s first sexual violence peak body, with hopes it will bring victim-survivors’ voices to ‘hallways of power’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Advocates are hopeful the establishment of Queensland’s first peak body for sexual violence will encourage more victim-survivors to come forward “over time”.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the state government announced it would set up the service, which is only the second of its kind in the country, similar to one in Victoria.<\/p>\n

The peak body is intended to represent the collective interests of the sexual violence support sector.<\/p>\n

It comes amid data showing reported sexual assaults hit a 32-year high<\/a> in Queensland in 2024, up 11 per cent on the previous year.<\/p>\n

Establishing a peak body was a recommendation of the former Labor government’s Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce, an independent taskforce which was set up in 2021 and released two reports in 2022.<\/p>\n

‘Landmark decision’\"Queensland<\/p>\n

Queensland Sexual Assault Network’s Angela Lynch has long called for a peak body. (ABC News: Curtis Rodda)<\/p>\n

The Queensland Sexual Assault Network (QSAN) characterised the announcement as a “landmark decision”.<\/p>\n

“The reality is [victim-survivors] already are [coming forward]. That trajectory is not going to stop,” QSAN executive officer Angela Lynch said.<\/p>\n

“The issue of sexual violence in our community, sadly, is increasing.<\/p>\n

“Sadly, it’s pushing down into younger and younger people.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sexual assault support lines:<\/p>\n

She said technology abuse and the “predatory behaviour of high-harm individuals” were of particular concern, and support services needed to be “strong” to respond.<\/p>\n

What will it do?<\/p>\n

According to Minister for Domestic and Family Violence Amanda Camm, the peak body will advocate on behalf of victim-survivors, while also developing a sexual violence support workforce across the state.<\/p>\n

Ms Camm said the peak body would help the government consult with the support sector as a whole on issues like resourcing and legislation.<\/p>\n

She said it would mean support services and advocates could bring their ideas to government in an easy way.<\/p>\n

It was a sentiment echoed by Ms Lynch, who said it was about ensuring the “collective” voices of those working in the sector, as well as victim-survivors, could be heard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It provides a pathway to bring the voices of survivors into the hallways of power to influence legislation, policy and service provision,” Ms Lynch said.<\/p>\n

She said the peak body would be able to bring ideas straight from the sector to the government for its consideration.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Amanda Camm announced the establishment of two peak bodies on Thursday. (AAP: Darren England)<\/p>\n

DV peak body ‘fast-tracked’<\/p>\n

A similar peak body for domestic and family violence would also be “fast-tracked” and set up, Ms Camm said.<\/p>\n

The former Labor government had planned for the Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS) to set up a peak body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Ms Camm said it would not have been operational until 2029, had this timeline been followed.<\/p>\n

Sexual violence a ‘neglected’ form of elder abuse<\/a><\/p>\n

One Far North Queensland sexual assault \u00a0support service says it’s helped 41 older women in the past three years.<\/p>\n

Queensland Domestic Violence Service Network (QDVSN) will take over forming the service.<\/p>\n

The government also announced a $1.6 million funding injection into the Remote Indigenous Women’s Shelter Network and the First Nation’s Primary Prevention Group.<\/p>\n

Chief Executive Officer of Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Legal Service Wynetta\u00a0Dewis said the funding would help address disproportionately high rates of domestic, family, and sexual violence among First Nations’ communities.<\/p>\n

A study into new Police Protection Directions (PPDs) and concerns around potential misidentification will also be undertaken, in response to concerns from advocates, Ms Camm said..<\/p>\n

The government said both peak bodies would be operational from January 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Advocates are hopeful the establishment of Queensland’s first peak body for sexual violence will encourage more victim-survivors to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":271118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74347,140801,140800,4740,140802,50,7207,4797,140805,4798,4790,53300,140804,10409,105748,140803,91475],"class_list":{"0":"post-271117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-advocates","9":"tag-amanda-camm","10":"tag-angela-lynch","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-domestic-and-family-violence","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-police","15":"tag-qld","16":"tag-qsan","17":"tag-queensland","18":"tag-queensland-government","19":"tag-queensland-police-service","20":"tag-queensland-sexual-assault-network","21":"tag-sexual-assault","22":"tag-sexual-violence","23":"tag-victim-survivors","24":"tag-victims-of-crime"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115302991770056678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}