The Albanese Labor Government is investing $10.89 million for nine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community-Controlled Organisations to support campaigns and services that help children to develop healthy relationships to prevent gender-based violence before it starts.
This investment is a key initiative under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan 2023-2025, which was launched by all Australian governments in August last year.
Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth will today visit the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA) in Melbourne to learn more about its Deadly Kids project, which will benefit under this investment.
"Our investment in projects like Deadly Kids recognises the importance of community-led action to prevent violence in First Nations communities," Minster Rishworth said.
"This project is one of nine which we are funding across the country. Together, the successful organisations will deliver a range of prevention programs and campaigns that promote healthy relationships from an early age.
"By working together with Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations and communities, we can work towards addressing - and ultimately ending - the disproportionate impact of gender-based violence for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples."
The Deadly Kids project will develop a train-the-trainer package promoting healthy respectful relationships and deliver it to youth groups of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 8-12 years across the six regions VACCA supports. This includes Northern Metropolitan, Southern Metropolitan, Eastern Metropolitan, Western Metropolitan, Inner Gippsland and Ovens Murray.
The training will help children to recognise signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships, helping to prevent family violence from happening as they move into their adolescent years and start forming their first intimate partner relationships.
This initiative will also help progress Target 13 under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap 2020-2030, which aims to reduce all forms of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children by at least 50 per cent by 2031.
