Dear Stakeholders,
The Office of Prevention and Women’s Equality (OPWE) would like to take this opportunity to provide stakeholders and agencies with an update on the Victorian and Commonwealth Behaviour Change campaigns.
This Sunday, 26 November 2017, the Office of Prevention and Women’s Equality (OPWE) will reintroduce the family violence campaign to metro and regional Victoria week commencing 26 November 2017. This phase of the campaign will cover both regional and metro television (including catch-up television), print advertising and digital channels (YouTube and Facebook) and will run from Sunday, 26 November 2017 to Saturday, 27 January 2018 inclusively. Placement includes:
- Metro and regional TV (including catch up) - 26 November - 24 December 2017
- Metro press – 26 November – 3 December 2017
- Regional press – 26 November 2017 – 7 January 2018
- Online (YouTube/Facebook) – 26 November 2017 – 28 January 2018.
Both the Office for Prevention and Women’s Equality and The Shannon Company (the campaign’s appointed creative agency) have been working closely with our colleagues in Commonwealth Government to ensure that the campaigns are not duplicating one another, nor are the campaigns competing for prime air time slots. Through regular meetings with our Commonwealth counterparts, we ensure that the campaigns remain both similar in their intended objectives and complementary in style.
The Commonwealth Government’s Stop It At The Start campaign was relaunched to market at the start of November 2017 and it will run throughout December 2017. It explores the notion of children imitating the behaviours that they see, and ultimately becoming perpetrators/victims based upon the scenarios that they witness and model firsthand.
The Victorian State Government’s campaign Respect Women for Our Children’s Future aims to raise awareness around the issue of family violence in the general population, as well as raise the public’s awareness of what constitutes family violence (ie. beyond the physical abuse that is often an element of family violence). The reintroduced State Government campaign will continue to carry the same taglines, and will direct viewers to the State Government’s support website (vic.gov.au/familyviolencesupport) and to contact Safe Steps on 1800 015 188 if further action and/or assistance is required.
The timing of these two campaigns is critical for both the Commonwealth and State Governments. Market testing and research conducted by both parties strongly suggests that in the period preceding Christmas, family violence and the factors that lead to family violence (eg. financial stress, unemployment, high credit, gambling debt and interpersonal stress) are at an all-time high. Government at both levels have a responsibility in ensuring that Victorians and Australians have both an understanding of the support networks in place to assist in identifying family violence in its many guises, as well as understand that support networks and agencies exist that are able to assist families in need.
As the Victorian State Government’s campaign progresses and evolves in 2018, a greater emphasis will be placed on the role that gender equality plays in family violence. In addition, 2018 will see a more targeted effort for specific communities including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, members of the LGBTI community, and older Victorians at risk of elder abuse will be developed based on evidence and consultation with specific communities.
We welcome stakeholder feedback on any of the above, as the campaign unfolds. Please do not hesitate to contact the office if you have any further questions.
Kind regards,
DR MARION FRERE
Interim Chief Executive Officer
Office of Prevention and Women's Equality
Health & Wellbeing Division
Department of Health & Human Services