How Collaboration Between Police and Other Services Guided a Victim/Survivor Centred Response to Sexual Violence in Victoria, Australia

Collaboration between a range of organisations is widely regarded as the basis of an effective response to victims/survivors of sexual assault. A collaborative and integrated whole-of-sector response is important to engaging with the diverse and complex needs of victims/survivors of sexual assault and supporting broader strategies to reduce violence against women, particularly given the often fragmented and dynamic nature of service systems. As part of government acknowledgement of this necessity, formalised working relationships were recommended as part of a sexual assault reform package in Victoria, Australia, during the early 2000s. Based on the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s recommendations for the improvement of sexual offences legislation (2001-2004), Victoria Police and the feminist Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA) began formal collaboration to support an effective response to sexual assault in the state.

Understanding the circumstances that allowed for strong policy action on a complex social issue is important to learning to replicate such strategies in other settings. In this paper, I investigate the ways in which a victim/survivor centred approach was incorporated into the punitive-based management of sexual assault in Victoria. I draw on my doctoral research into a time period that saw changes to criminal justice policy and practice brought about by discourses attached to feminism and the new public health framework. I apply a method of critical discourse analysis to key documents from Victoria Police (2005), particularly the Code of Practice for the Investigation of Sexual Assault and its accompanying Action Checklist, or Ready Reckoner – the products of collaboration between CASA staff and police. I also provide a glimpse into the informal side of collaborative relationships based on interviews with key informants associated with Victoria Police and CASA, and discuss the competing internal discourses about the role of police in addressing violence against women more broadly.